Silver bullion is generally made of 99.9% silver. It will have that printed on it someplace in all cases I know of. As long as you purchase from a reputable dealer you are pretty safe with bullion. This includes new coins produced by a few governments, which also state 99.9% or even 99.99% in the case of Canada.
US silver coins were made of 90% silver and 10% copper until 1964. After that they were made of a copper center clad with a silver colored surface (see CLAD below). They no longer had any silver content. EXCEPT for the Kennedy half dollar, which went to 40% silver until 1970, then zero from 1971 forward. There are exceptions with some proof coins, made especially for collectors, which are 90% silver. It gets confusing and my suggestion is to simply avoid coins made after 1964.
US silver coins were made of 90% silver and 10% copper until 1964. After that they were made of a copper center clad with a silver colored surface (see CLAD below). They no longer had any silver content. EXCEPT for the Kennedy half dollar, which went to 40% silver until 1970, then zero from 1971 forward. There are exceptions with some proof coins, made especially for collectors, which are 90% silver. It gets confusing and my suggestion is to simply avoid coins made after 1964.
Sterling silver is an alloy of silver containing 92.5% by mass of silver and 7.5% by mass of other metals, usually copper.
Nickel silver, German silver, Argentan, new silver, nickel brass, albata alpacca or electrum is a copper alloy with nickel and often zinc. The usual formulation is 60% copper, 20% nickel and 20% zinc. Nickel silver is named for its silvery appearance, but it contains no elemental silver unless plated. The name "German silver" refers to its development by 19th-century German metalworkers in imitation of the Chinese alloy known as paktong.
CLAD. This means coated. A very thin outer layer covers copper (usually) . Not enough silver to be worth much of anything.
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Did you catch it? The words seem to say "In God We Trust. But they don't. Look again.