How to calculate the Silver Value in a Morgan Silver Dollar

How many Grams in a Troy Ounce?

Most precious metals are weighed in troy ounces not in avoirdupois ounces. Understanding the difference between the two seems like a good place to start this post. If you went to the supermarket and weighed your fruit/vegetables you would be weighing in at avoirdupois ounces. There are 16 ounces in 1 lb and 1 ounce = 28.35 grams. 

Now a troy ounce is typically heavier than an avoirdupois ounce. 1 troy ounce = 31.1 grams.  But if you were to measure 1 troy pound to 1 avoirdupois pound a troy pound would be lighter because there are only 12 ounces in 1 lb troy pound.

To find out the Silver Value in a Morgan Silver Dollar you need to know two things:

1.What is the price of silver today?

For the purpose of this post let's say silver spot price is $30.00 today

2. How many troy ounces in a Morgan silver dollar?

0.77345 troy ounces of silver in a Morgan silver dollar

(Price of Silver x how many grams of silver in a Morgan)
($30.00 x 0.77345) = $23.20

The Total Silver Value in a Morgan Silver Dollar would be would be $23.20

Another way you could come up with that number is if you knew the following:

How much does a Morgan Silver Dollar weigh in grams?

A Morgan Dollar weighs 26.73 grams

What is the price of Silver today?

For the purpose of this post let's say silver spot price is $30.00 today

What is the conversion rate between ounces/grams?

Silver price is based in troy ounces  so we need to convert ounces to grams which is .0321507466

What percentage silver is a Morgan silver dollar?

 Silver = 90% and Copper = 10%

(Price of Silver x ounce/gram conversion x total weight of Morgan silver dollar/grams x 90% silver) = $23.20
($30.00 x .0321507466 x 26.73 x .90) = $23.20

The Total Silver Value in a Morgan Silver Dollar would be would be $23.20