Silver Coin: Real Or Fake?

XRF, 100%

i think that a nice loupe or even better a microscope can be used to look for flow lines (evidence of a coin being struck as opposed to being cast).

- How it sounds
- How it bends (destructive)
- Visual color from oxidation, acid, polishing, tumbling (destructive)
- How it melts (destructive)
- Loupe the darn thing!
- Cartwheel effect! (from polished dies)
- How it tastes (okay just kidding)
- Did anyone mention weigh the coin? I've spotted fakes just from this (and diameter and thickness of coin).

@dspenciner: I think you're referring to mold lines, which will tell you if the coin was made using a mold (and not taken out - lazy) . "Casting/flow lines" would more likely refer to the chilling effect if the metal or mold is too cold when casting, so you will get wavy ripples on the surface of the metal around a portion that will seem shinier but may contain incomplete fills, therefore making the metal ball up, especially when the pattern becomes very thin. Look at any material when it melts, as it will become a ball (hair, skin, paper, metal, plastic, etc). Anyways, a cast item needs a gate/sprue, therefore to remove hat artifice one must grind it off and polish the area. So if one area looks super shiny for no reason, bingo, hence the cartwheel effect that is visible on ZERO castings ever. (I cast noble metals daily for business and pleasure.)