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 Replies: 12 / Views: 15,389 |
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Valued Member
United States
322 Posts |
From time to time, I saw people bites silver coins in the old movie. Why they do that?
You can't tell the different hardness of silver to other metal. I know that you could bend sterling silver .925 forks or spoons, but not coins.
Or is that an old habit to kick tire when you check a car?
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1391 Posts |
I have seen it in movies to but all the ones I remember were with gold items, and where gold is softer I assume if you leave a mark then it is good?
Maybe they are tasting the silver? I have heard that some people are able to tell by the taste. I have never tried it though so I can't say one way or another.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
7840 Posts |
Yuck! Tasting the coins? There is no telling what the previous handler was handling when they grabbed the Silver Dollar out of the spittoon. The Pepsi Challenge this is not! I found this on an "not so reliable source" site; An old practice to test whether a gold coin was counterfeit was to bite down on it. Since pure gold is relatively soft any base metals mixed with the gold to lessen its value will also harden the coin, and so make it harder to bite on. Another explanation of this practice is that historic gold coins were usually alloyed with silver and copper which make them harder than pure gold and less prone to wear. Counterfeits could be made of lead to approximate the weight of gold and covered with a thin layer of real gold. Biting the coin would mark the softer lead or scratch through the veneer revealing the base metal underneath ...and a trip to see the dentist to fix your broken tooth! Edited by oih82w8
08/01/2012 2:36 pm
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Valued Member
 United States
322 Posts |
Great,
Anybody care to try to taste my coins?
See my post on Verdi Care and Acetone cleaning.
Let me know.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3453 Posts |
Has anyone ever come across coins with teeth indentations?
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Valued Member
United States
322 Posts |
CoinsKelly,
It looks like somebody bitten the coin in your Avatar.
Is it myth or is it fact?
The European makes the eating utensil from silver, so he or she could detect if somebody put poison in the food. The Chinese eating with Ivory chopstick for the same reason.
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Valued Member
United States
322 Posts |
Couple days ago, I saw Gaby Douglas bites her Gold medal. If you can tell gold by biting, you must see a lot of teeth marks on gold coins. How come no body reply CoinKelly? Except me, but mine was suppose to be a joke. I don't want to try with my gold coins. I would like to know if there is any.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3453 Posts |
I thought your joke was funny!
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
3692 Posts |
Gold medals, though, are over 97% silver, and only 2+% gold. Her teeth are probably messed up now.
Edited by Libertad
08/04/2012 10:28 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
5362 Posts |
Just a passing thought on tasting coins. One element that is often found in counterfeit silver coins is ARSENIC up to 15% - so tasting a forgery may not be healthy for reasons other than dirty fingers. This is not a joke. Antimony, mercury and several other toxic elements are well known to occur in forgeries. So lick stamps not coins.  |
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Valued Member
Canada
480 Posts |
Lead was used to make fakes of silver coins. It is much softer than either gold or silver, and you would see the pattern of teeth marks, where you probably wouldn't in silver coins, or in gold alloy coins. Pure gold, not normally used to make circulating gold coins, was a very soft alloy, also.
I have seen counterfeit coins with apparent tooth marks.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
5362 Posts |
Very dangerous thing to do especially with lead because the NORMAL additive is Antimony for hardness and color. Very TOXIC  . |
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Pillar of the Community
France
1591 Posts |
Yep, one of the history of its name comes from a monastry where monks were dying one after the other.
Their well was dug in the local land, and reached an antimony coat - where it was in contact with water.
Another history mentions tests from alchemists done on humans in the medieval period.
Hence the name :)
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Replies: 12 / Views: 15,389 |
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Posted 08/01/2012 1:53 pm
