1922 Silver Coins With Neodynium Magnet

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Author	Replies: 3 / Views: 4,032
AGjunky New Member United Kingdom 2 Posts	Posted 04/11/2012 10:26 am I normally test my pre-1947 silver coins with a pretty strong ferrous magnet. I have never seen one that attracts compared to some modern bronze coins which jump onto the magnet. However I recently picked up a tiny rare earth Neo magnet from Maplins, really small 3mm by 2mm and weighs practically nothing. They are darn powerful. If I push a coin next to it on a smooth surface, the slightest attraction can drag the magnet or if stronger causes the magnet to jump onto the coin. I tested all of my pre-1947 silver coins out of curiosity and I am finding quite a few which do have a weak attraction and strangely they are nearly all 1922 dated. Mainly florins and Shillings. Seen one Half crown dated 1921. Nothing smaller than shilling. A normal magnet has no attraction at all to these. However I have other 1922 and 1921 coins which don't attract. At first I thought they were fake, but visually, size and weight they are OK I think. They ring pretty similar too when struck. 1922 is just too big a coincidence ? My research suggests there was 10% nickel content in the early 1920-1922s coins, then just silver/copper, then silver/copper/nickel/zinc with 5% nickel after 1928. Nickel is magnetic of course. Anyone else tried this or have an explanation for it. Maybe they are contemporary forgeries and 1922/1921 just so happened to be a big years ? Or the 10% nickel in these years is large enough to get picked by these extremely powerful tiny Neo Mags ? Then again modern CupronNIckel coins with 25% nickel dont attract the magnet. Strange. Report this Post to the Staff

Sap Moderator Australia 16873 Posts	Posted 04/11/2012 8:51 pm Hello and welcome to the forum. Extra-super-powerful magnets can cause some strange interactions with materials that aren't normally considered "magnetic". From a technical point of view, all substances are "magnetic" - either ferromagnetic (they have their own magnetic field), paramagnetic (they are attracted to a magnetic field) or diamagnetic (they are repulsed by a magnetic field). Diamagnetism is usually too weak to see any real-world effects, but modern neodymium/rare earth magnets can easily demonstrate it with a solid metallic object like a coin. So a "usually non-magnetic" coin is just as likely to try to push away from a neo magnet than it is to be attracted to one. If it is paramagneism rather than diamagnetism that you're seeing, it could indeed be increased nickel content causing the alloy of the coin to become slightly paramagnetic. But I would expect to see a similar effect for all .500 fine 1920-1922 coins. As for the possibility of it being counterfeit, it's always possible. I don't know about British coins, but I know the 1920s and 1930s was a notorious time for fake Australian silver coins. There was apparently a big Hong Kong / Chinese criminal gang doing counterfeiting back then. Triton's article. Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise, you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite. - C. S. Lewis Report this Post to the Staff
AGjunky New Member United Kingdom 2 Posts	Posted 04/12/2012 05:12 am Thanks for the warm welcome and that very interesting article by Triton. Those forgeries are very impressive indeed ! In my case its just a sample of 1922 British mainly ( maybe 33% of my collection ) with just one 1921 so thats baffling. It could be that there was a batch say Dec 1921 to April 1922 where there were ferro impurities which caused the paramanetism. I dont know... I dont understand why this same Neo magnet doesn't affect modern Cupronickel coins with very high content. Maybe I will get an even stronger magnet and experiment.. or take the coins to the local coin shop who might be able to give an opinion. Report this Post to the Staff
andyg Pillar of the Community United Kingdom 1324 Posts	Posted 04/13/2012 2:25 pm Nothing much to worry about - it took the mint a few years of adjustments to the metal in the early 20's to find one suitable. 1920 (silver reduced to 50%) rest containing a copper based alloy. 1922 change to a straight 1:1 silver copper mix 1927 switch to silver (50%) copper nickel zinc alloy. Report this Post to the Staff
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