Also, I did’nt realize my whole name would come out on the post. Nickels 1942-45 (war nickels) are 35% silver. Exposure to air or other chemicals results in tarnishing that does not occur with fake silver. Hello Dave, Ahhhhh. Currently silver is trading @ $16.50US. Many coin shops and bullion dealers will also have a website filled with information about the kinds of products they sell, their prices, and other helpful information. It also pays to know your coin history. I also have bought from APMEX and would happily buy from them again. If a bullion coin or bar sticks to a magnet you can easily throw this one out. All you will need is just 1 drop, place it on the silver and if it begins to turn black then you can check it is silver. Dimes and quarters made before 1964 are 90% silver. However, I think my calculation was too rough as is does not take the irregularities of the coin surface into consideration. A dead giveaway is the edges of the coin or reeding. So again, anyone that could produce such a perfect forgery would never be a forger to begin with; they would make a generous salary working in a wide range of legal capacities. Thickness is measured at the rim. When doing acid testing for silver, use the 18 kt gold acid. Nickel Silver – While this has a silver appearance, it has a composition of 60% copper, 20% nickel, and 20% zinc. US Silver Coin Value Calculator
Sure, even in the internet era, good ol’ word of mouth still means something. The specific gravity test of silver is basically a ratio of densities and due to its chemical & composition makeup should equal ~ 10.49, given by the formula below: Since the most popular is the American Silver Eagle, we will take a look at that particular coin. No, we’re not talking about the 1973 ABBA hit song! ( 131578258088 ). Look out for items with small or fuzzy images, and descriptions that might not make sense. Just search for silver acid testing kit or puritest. in postage. If you are testing your silver with even modest competence, you can be fairly sure the silver is pure and solid. Real silver will oxidize with friction and as a result usually leave black marks on the cloth. Just compare pictures of different auctions and you can pick them out. I looked at the web-site which I purchased the 2014 and their 1986 S.E. 925 means that the piece is 92.5 percent silver. Unfortunately, a lot of silver stackers and other silver bugs learn this lesson the hard way. Some material properties not covered in the above article include, but are not limited to: electrical properties (there are many, don’t limit yourself to resistance), hardness, tensile strength, compression set, thermal expansion rate… the list is massive. You’re wrong on the letter O and U. I’ve bought silver on Ebay but try to stick to major dealers, somebody who has been selling only silver at 10,000+ sales. Also note that x-ray fluorescence is effectively a surface test as described above. Why agonize over whether your coins, bars, and rounds are made from real silver? German Silver – Another term for nickel silver, see above. It can correctly verify the weight, thickness, diameter, and shape of 4 different coins. It is an alloy composed of 92.5% silver and 7.5% other metals. From 1987 – 2007 the O’s were oval and the U had no tail. They are mostly either 99.9% or 99.99% silver. If the coin has a solid silver stripe, then you can feel confident that it’s silver. Then turn to a reputable coin dealer or bullion broker. You can see font differences alone on both the obverse and reverse should be enough to spot the fake. Click here to grab yours! Sure, they may charge full price (in other words, market rate), but they’ll also offer you a fair deal in return. A loupe if a special magnifying glass without the handle with higher magnification due to its special lens. There are several ways you can determine whether your silver is real. At $169 though, overpriced in my opinion, as a basic digital scale and good set of calipers will do the same. The sliding magnet test is simply using a small rare earth magnet(others don’t work), hold the coin/bar at a 45degree angle and let the magnet slide down the coin. Give an idea slightly different in degrees of “ tungsten ” and then in! Weed out the video below, it would on other objects in that case using! 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