Coin Cutter Sensing Fraud.

Thanks lazycat, been looking for information.
I think my teeth are to big in my jeweler saw, I hear you're supposed to use a 3/0 4/0 or 5/0, I'll be buying some soon, and try again.
I was trying to do a close enough cut and then file the rest out, slow process with poor results.

Interesting point....

When you fire up sterling silver sometimes the surface can come out yellow. When you overheat sterling silver too much in one spot you'll get a purple stain on the surface that bleeds up from the core and it's super time-consuming to get erase, but it's not yellow. Send one to a refinery if you want an exact assay (metal composition report).

@lazycat: You have to learn the hard way never to cheap out on good tools, good on ya! Currently using "Scies" (Swiss) from 2/0 to 8/0 depending on metal thickness. 3/0 is pretty solid. I would gradually make my way down until I got comfortable with the sawblade. You'll be cursing every minute as you break a blade. One key thing is to make sure there's "bite" on the teeth, meaning there should be at least 2 teeth on the metal's surface as you're sawing down. It all depends on the thickness, so don't use a fine sawblade on something thick, and a sawblade that is too big for the metal will "catch" too much on a single tooth. Filing down stuff is very time-consuming, so I would get used to the smallest blade you can handle for the job. Oh, and consider the cost of each blade: 8/0 blades cost about 50% more than 2/0 or 3/0 on the gross.
:)
Oh, by the way, you can always replate the coin if the customer is picky.

cderksen - not to sound simplistic, but you real;y want to hone your skills to point where you (almost) never need to do any filing. Sometimes the smallness of the coin won't even allow for filing.
I have strictly been using 2/0 blades for everything, down to the finest lettering, but have recently bought a gross of 4/0, and they are great too. More for dime sized stuff with great detail.
What is your setup for cutting? I use a vice grip, held in place horizontally, by a bench vice. Works very well.

@lazycat. I've just started this new hobby and only have the blades that came with the jeweler saw. Will be buying some more this weekend from Amazon, will buy the 4/0 since you mentioned them, and I don't have the knowledge yet of which to buy.
Maybe I'll try a little bigger coin to start, like a American half dollar, since I have a small stock pile from coin roll hunting.
Didn't even think about a vise grip in the bench vise, I've only been using two small pieces of wood with the bench vice, and the coin would fall out a lot.
Thanks for the information.

The country name on the coin should read:

"République démocratique du Congo"

Any such coin with the English country name only is a fantasy token only. There has been a genuine "Endangered Wildlife Series" of commemoratives issued in silver before in the DRC, but it was suspended after the rising silver price made it difficult to market the coins.

After 2005, most official commemorative issues also have been copper-nickel or silver plated copper. Yet the legend always is in French.