What years were silver coins used in Canada?  I'm not familiar with them.

^ I believe silver was used in Canadian dimes, quarters, and halves up to 1967...if I recall correctly.

I come across them quite infrequently...occasionally a silver dime or a WW2 nickel, though I have scored a couple silver quarters (one, I believe, was dated 1939 or something along those lines), and I even scored an Indian head penny one day (the date on it was 1888 o_O ). That doesn't mean I don't have a healthy collection of silver coins, though...I've been collecting coins for *much* longer than I have collected video games, and I've probably 20 ounces of silver in coins (including an 1885 silver dollar, some large silver 20-franc coin from Tunisia, and several silver half dollars dating from 1900 forward, and silver dimes dating as far back as 1830).

I find 'em at work plenty. Liquor store + town infamous for drunkards = people raiding their change for booze.

People raiding their change for booze = people spending pre-'65 coinage.

People spending pre-'65 coinage = Me buying pre-'65 coinage.

Me buying pre-'65 coinage = me happy.

it also depends on the price of silver at the time.  Anything 90% silver is valued at $17.15 an ounce right now, and that's higher than normal (I believe a 64 half was valued less than $5 last summer, and it's currently $6.20 right now).  

When I worked at a gift shop, I would find silver dimes fairly often, as well as wheat pennies. Occasionally I would find a silver quarter, and I also would frequently find foreign coins.

When I left that job and started working at a winery, I would only occasionally find wheat pennies, and I never pulled them out, as the managers were assholes and it didn't seem worth it to ask them about it.

In change, it goes in spells. I remember a few months back, when I find three silver dimes in the matter of a week and a half, but there has been a dry spell lately.

I think you misunderstood what I was saying.  The coins contain silver in direct proportion to their face value.

A quarter had 2.5x as much as a dime.
A half-dollar had 5x as much as a dime.
A dollar had 10x as much as a dime.

Because of this, if the price of silver was high enough that any coin was worth 10x face value in melt...ALL silver coins would be worth 10x their face value.

got a silver quarter (1944), a susan b. anthony , and a bicentennial eisenhower dollar last night at work