1993 American Silver Eagle
Every version of the 1993 Silver Eagle with mintages, the silver it contains, which versions carry a premium and what to check on yours.
- Year
- 1993
- 1 oz bullion mintage
- 6,763,762
- Versions
- 2
- Metal
- .999 fine silver
Original illustration of the coin's size and metal. Tap to flip. Not a picture of the actual design.
Metal value · Small premium · Collector premium · Significant rarity. We use bands because metal and coin prices change daily.
What is a 1993 Silver Eagle worth?
The 1993 bullion Silver Eagle is worth its silver content: weight times the day's spot price, plus a modest dealer premium when you buy and less when you sell. Its scarcer versions are different: the 1993-P proof (405,913) rates small premium.
Metal value = troy ounces of silver × the day's spot price. For collector versions, check recent sold results for the same version and grade.
Every 1993 Silver Eagle version
| Version | Mint mark | Size | Mintage | Value band |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bullion | None | 1 oz ($1) | 6,763,762 | Metal value |
| Proof | "P" | 1 oz ($1) | 405,913 | Small premium |
A 1993 Silver Eagle is either bullion or the first Philadelphia proof. The bullion coin has no mint mark and an ordinary bright finish. The proof has mirror fields, frosted devices and a P on the reverse, in the same spot beside the eagle's tail where earlier proofs carried an S. The packaging followed the earlier style, a capsule in a presentation case with a certificate. A P on a 1993 Silver Eagle always means proof, because bullion coins never carry a letter. Philadelphia's cases look much like the earlier San Francisco ones.
Quick answers
- How much silver is in a 1993 Silver Eagle?
- Each coin contains its stated weight of pure silver: one troy ounce in the $1 coin. The alloy is 99.9% silver.
- How many 1993 Silver Eagles were made?
- 6,763,762 one ounce bullion coins plus 405,913 collector versions (proof, burnished and special finishes).
- Is the 1993 Silver Eagle worth more than its silver?
- The bullion coin trades close to its metal value plus a dealer premium. Collector versions in their original packaging bring a small premium.
- Is the Silver Eagle legal tender?
- Yes. Each size carries a face value ($1), but nobody spends them: the silver is worth far more than the face value.
The Silver Eagle in 1993
Proof production moved to the Philadelphia Mint in 1993, so the year's proof carries a P mint mark for the first time. Philadelphia struck 405,913 of them, a sharp fall from the San Francisco years and a sign that proof demand was still easing. The change of mint marks gives 1993 a special place in date sets: it starts an eight-year run of P proofs that ends in 2000. Philadelphia was the Mint's oldest facility, a fitting home for the proofs.
Bullion buying went the other way. Sales rose to 6,763,762 coins, up by more than a million on 1992, as silver stayed cheap and investors kept adding ounces. Bullion coins don't show where they were struck, so nothing on a 1993 bullion coin changed with the proof move. For most owners of a 1993 Silver Eagle, the coin in hand is one of those six and three quarter million bullion pieces. Silver buyers rarely care which mint made their coin; for them the date and the weight are what count.
1993 Silver Eagle by the numbers
The Mint sold 6,763,762 one ounce bullion Silver Eagles dated 1993. That ranks 11th lowest of the 39 bullion dates from 1986 to 2024.
Against the dates around it, 1993 bullion sales were 1.2 times the 1992 figure and 1.6 times the 1994 figure.
Collector versions dated 1993 add up to 405,913 coins across 1 version. The scarcest is the 1993-P proof at 405,913.
What to check on yours
- Weigh and measure it. A genuine one ounce Silver Eagle weighs 31.103 g and measures 40.6 mm. Fakes are usually the wrong weight or the wrong thickness.
- Try a magnet. Silver is not magnetic, so a coin that sticks is not genuine. A coin that does not stick still needs the other checks.
- Look for the mint mark. Bullion strikes have none; proofs and burnished coins carry a small letter. A mirror field with frosted design means a proof, a soft satin look means burnished.
- Handle it by the edge and never clean it. Fingerprints, wiping and polishing leave marks that cost collector versions much of their premium.
- Keep the original capsule, box and certificate with collector versions. Coins that come with them are easier to sell and more likely to bring their full premium.
The 1993 bullion coin is a metal value coin in normal grades, with a small premium for certified top grades. The 1993-P proof, as the first of the Philadelphia proofs with a mintage of 405,913, trades for a small premium and a bit more than the San Francisco dates before it. Philadelphia proofs from the mid 1990s are prone to spotting, so a clean, untoned example in its original capsule is the version worth keeping. Coins with deep frost on Liberty and the eagle are the most desirable.
Philadelphia proofs and the 1995-W (1993 to 2000)
Proof production moved east to Philadelphia in 1993, so every regular proof from 1993 to 2000 carries a P mint mark. Proof sales were modest through the middle of the decade, sliding to 372,168 in 1994, the lowest regular proof figure of the classic run. They then recovered to 600,000 by 2000 as interest in modern coins picked up again. Philadelphia proofs of this period are known for developing spots, so clean examples are harder to find than the mintages suggest.
This era holds the most famous Silver Eagle of all. For the program's tenth anniversary the Mint sold a proof set of four Gold Eagles with a single silver proof struck at West Point. Only 30,125 sets were sold and the 1995-W was not available any other way. A year later the 1996 bullion coin recorded the lowest regular bullion figure of the run, 3,603,386, giving collectors a second date to chase. Neither coin attracted much attention at the time; their status built slowly as collectors began assembling complete date runs.
Silver was cheap for most of the 1990s, so there was little reason to rush. Bullion buying settled at around four to five million coins a year from 1994 until a jump in 1999 and 2000. For anyone sorting an inherited collection, this is the stretch to examine carefully. A boxed 1995 anniversary set with its W coin, a loose 1995-W or a nice 1996 bullion coin is worth far more attention than the common dates around it.
Mintage chart
Specifications
| Program | American Silver Eagle |
|---|---|
| Issuer | United States Mint |
| Metal | .999 fine silver |
| Alloy | 99.9% silver |
| Sizes | 1 oz ($1, 31.103 g, 40.6 mm) |
| Edge | Reeded |
| One ounce coin | 31.103 g, 40.6 mm |
Frequently asked questions
Why does the 1993 proof Silver Eagle have a P?
The P stands for Philadelphia. Proof Silver Eagles moved there from San Francisco in 1993 and stayed until 2000. The 1993-P was the first of them, with 405,913 struck. It carries a small premium over metal value.
Is the 1993 bullion Silver Eagle valuable?
It trades at metal value unless it is graded at the very top of the scale. With 6,763,762 made, it's a common date. Keep it clean and in a capsule and it will always be worth at least its silver.
Mintages: American Silver Eagle (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0), compiled from US Mint figures. How we build these pages.