I have a couple of coins (China (Empire) Tai Ching Ti Kuo Silver Coin) that say silver coin on them but look to be old copper...Is it possible to be silver and just dirty? Or are they fake?
Very difficult to tell from the photos. Silver can tone to a reddish hue depending on the pollutants in the air and exposure to other environmental sources of sulphur. The most common form of tarnish is silver sulphide which is black eventually but can run from yellow to brown as it is turning.
Safer to start with weight, ring and density. I presume these are not magnetic, correct?
So weigh the coin and see if it is within a fraction of a gram of standard weight. The does it ring like silver? Finally check the density - the coin is large enough but you will need a 1/100 th gram scale. The loss of weight caused by buoyancy divided by the weight of the coin is the density (provided you measure the weight in grams. Coin silver is 10.31.
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