Back in 1964, the minimum wage was actually quite different from today's purchasing power. Let's look at how silver quarters tell this story. Those quarters contained 90% pure silver—take five of them and you're holding roughly 1.125 ounces of the metal. Now, here's where it gets interesting: while the silver content is technically 90%, junk silver (circulated pre-1965 coins) trades at around 71% of that theoretical value in today's market. So the math: 1.125 ounces multiplied by that 0.71 haircut gives you approximately $0.89 in actual silver value. That single dollar from 1964 tells us something worth thinking about—how the real purchasing power of currency has shifted when measured against tangible assets like silver. It's a practical lens for understanding inflation and why some investors keep their eyes on commodity values.