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 Replies: 20 / Views: 3,668 |
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Valued Member
Canada
257 Posts |
Has anyone found an ingenious way to separate these coins aside from date? As background information: This website gives in depth specifications of all Canadian coins: http://www.coinscan.com/technical/canasp.html10c, 25c, and 50c George V coins - from 1911-1936 were made in two different compositions of silver: 80% from 1911-1919 92.5% from 1920-1936 When you have coins that the date is worn off, is there any way to tell these two compositions apart? i.e. junk silver Thanks! |
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
2187 Posts |
I believe the 1919 and earlier were 92.5% and the 1920-36 where 80%. I don't think there's a way of knowing. They are the same size and weight. Maybe someone studied them enough to find a difference, but I know that for the 1967 50% and 80% silver, people can't really tell right off the bat.
Edited by Paulsz
04/25/2016 10:16 pm
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
2632 Posts |
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
2187 Posts |
I figured through some kind of testing there is. I was assuming just by looking in hand
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Valued Member
 Canada
257 Posts |
I actually do have a set of gold and silver acids! Thank you, I will try that Also saw this on a different thread: Quote:
Coins dated 1919 and back are 92.5%, coins 1920 and later are 80%, although the composition changed in 1920, the size and weight remained the same. The only diagnostic that can help you distinguish a pre-1920 coin is the lack of the D.G.
Finding a George V for junk is good as long as the date is visible, otherwise, it's just junk after all and isn't really worth buying any more than any other junk silver coins.
-zx https://goccf.com/t/233057#1945970I don't know where this DG is or if this is correct |
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Bedrock of the Community
Australia
21788 Posts |
Not worth the trouble of XRF'ing,
but that would definitely tell the difference in alloys, no matter whatever the date may happen to be.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1192 Posts |
It makes it so much easier when you find a Edwards or Victorian in the junk pile.
I found a Victorian one last week but couldn't see the date so I passed though I hate myself for it.
I found a Edwards with a worn date of 1907 for the 80% price last week. They look so similar to the George V quarters. Super fortunate the portrait is mirror flipped. It was so worn though I can't believe the date stayed on it partially.
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
5240 Posts |
If you are buying worn coins as "junk silver", you should buy them by weight, not by face value. A coin so worn that the date is no longer visible has lost over 10% of its weight, so any premium for silver purity would be lost.
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
2632 Posts |
Quote:
If you are buying worn coins as "junk silver", you should buy them by weight, not by face value I never heard of anybody selling silver coins at face but if I do I'll be first in line. |
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
3049 Posts |
Alexer... not AT face.... but BY face...
eg; Buying at $12 x face.... a fifty cent coin would cost $6.00
Anyone buying AT face from a place other than a bank which HAS to sell you for face value is ripping someone off!
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Valued Member
Canada
257 Posts |
I've heard of lucky people buying silver at face value from banks, who for some reason had the coins separated and the tellers didn't 'buy' the coins for face value themselves. On this website you can type in an estimate of how much wear % you think the coin has (if it's not in-hand) and get a good estimate that way. http://coinapps.com/silver/coin/can.../calculator/But of course if you can, always weigh it yourself. I have a very precise scale - 300g accurate to 0.001g, and after some testing I've found an average circulated coin (VF) can loose 4-8% and a very worn out coin (AG or worse) can be as high as 12-15% |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1005 Posts |
You might be able to distinguish them with a large magnet. That way you'd avoid dealing with nasty nitric acid and destroying the coin.
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Valued Member
Canada
257 Posts |
If it's worn so badly you can't tell the date, an acid spot is not a big deal, as it has no collector value.
But yes I'd like to try that too, maybe a very large neodymium magnet.
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
3049 Posts |
Interesting llewellin! I have some earth metal magnets from taking apart a few old computers.... I'm going to try that to see if there's any difference
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Valued Member
Canada
257 Posts |
Now that I think about it...
The composition is 92.5% Silver, 7.5% copper
And 80% Silver, 20% Copper
Copper is very weakly magnetic - think of the 'magnetic' vs. 'Non magnetic' varieties in modern Canadian pennies
Referring to the coin specification website I posted above:
The magnetic ones are made mainly from Steel - 94% Steel, 4.5% Copper, 1.5% Nickel 2002-2012)
The non- magnetic variety is 98.4% Zinc, 1.6% Copper. (1997-2012)
And for simplicity's sake anything 1858-1996 is 95-98% Copper, and a small amount of tin and zinc. Which is non-magnetic as well.
I'm still going to try testing the silver alloys with the strongest magnet I can find for the heck of it, but I expect it would be impossible to tell without high-end expensive lab grade magnetic fields.
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Pillar of the Community
 Canada
5394 Posts |
When the George coins are that well worn a total and absolute waste of ever decreasing time.
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Replies: 20 / Views: 3,668 |
Posted 04/25/2016 10:19 pm
