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 Replies: 13 / Views: 3,127 |
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Valued Member
United States
451 Posts |
I can't think of any affordable non invasive silver/ gold test. There are chemical tests that involve the chemical touching the coin and I don't like it very much. Is there any other means of testing the purity or at least the presence of a metal in a coin?
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Valued Member
United States
220 Posts |
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Valued Member
 United States
451 Posts |
Thanks! How not cheap is it? :P
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Valued Member
United States
220 Posts |
So not cheap that they don't have a price on their site  sure would like one though. Edited by Foolsgold
03/08/2011 10:48 pm
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Valued Member
United States
310 Posts |
Now I haven't tried this, but I know metals have different resistances to electricity. If you could find out what the resistance should be for the coin, a $30 resistance meter would do the trick.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3546 Posts |
Broken, My experience with 'affordable' electrical testing devices has been inconsistent leading me to perform SG (specific gravity) tests at home after purchasing gold at auctions. The electrical test devices I have used that test the surface for gold, for example, can often be fooled by the presence of non-gold materials found just 3 - 6 mm below the surface of the test subject. Just like any 'affordable' test method SG testing is never 100% accurate but it is, IMHO, one of the most repeatable and accurate methods of metal content identification. Even SG testing can produce erroneous results when gold bars, for example, contain tungsten deep within the interior and can only be differentiated by drilling deep down a couple of inches etc: SG for gold = 19320 kg/cu.m SG for tungsten = 19600 kg/cu.m I may have digressed somewhat from the original topic but here is an interesting article about the use of tungsten within gold objects: http://www.tungsten-alloy.com/en/alloy11.htmfyi, mdpmedia |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
14454 Posts |
I saw a machine on a show on TRUTV called Hardcore Pawn that could do all metals, it scans it and tells you what its made of. They got one because they were taking in fake gold that would pass the acid tests because it was layered. Anyhow it costs 16,000 dollars so it may be ok for a business that takes in silver and gold but not for an individual
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1348 Posts |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
10045 Posts |
I tried SG testing some silver coins, but my results suggest that even slight errors can dramatically affect SG readings. Outside of using expensive testing equipment, most silver and gold coins already have known values such as weight, diameter, thickness that should help eliminate fakes made from less dense alloys.  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3294 Posts |
I saw the device Bryan is talking about at a trade show 3 years ago. At that time, the cost was $30,000 so in a few years, it might be even more affordable.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
20753 Posts |
The problem here is in order to really test coins, you may well have to buy them. I really don't see a lot of dealers allowing anyone to set up all kinds of instruments to check for authentic materials. For sure not a coin show, not at a coin store either.
Next if you do buy one and take it home to test it, find it's a fake, you probably took it out of a flip so proving to a dealer it is the same one is also not to easy.
Testing of a coins properties if not buying it would really be a neast trick.
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Pillar of the Community
Philippines
1156 Posts |
I always bring a small digital pocket weigher and weigh the silver crown coin I'm interested in. If it comes very close to the book's coin ref weight, the silver sheen is there and details of the coin points towards it being real, then I buy it. Its a process of really just an evaluated guess, most of the time I get the genuine ones, in some occasions some very nice fakes slip by.  that its really difficult to rigidly test a coin that one doesn't own yet.  The dealer always worries that it might get scratched or something |
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Rest in Peace
United States
9104 Posts |
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Rest in Peace
United States
9104 Posts |
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Replies: 13 / Views: 3,127 |
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Posted 03/08/2011 10:44 pm
