Making My/Our Own Tokens?

Isn't lead poisonous?

Beyond that small inconvenience, I believe there are private mints that will make coins for you.

However, I'm just not sure if they can work with lead.

Oh, and on a side note, steer clear of Uncle Sam by NOT having these coins look anything similar to the infamous Liberty Dollar.

That thing's large enough and regularly-shaped enough that a crude density test should suffice.

- Measure it's length, width and height in cm. Multiply these three numbers together to obtain a volume, in cubic centimetres.
- Obtain a weight, in grams.
- Divide the weight in grams by the volume in cm3.

Lead should come out to 11.3 g/cm3. If the number is lower than this, then it's not lead, but something else; your next most likely pure metal is silver, at 10.5 g/cm3. And frankly, it doesn't look shiny enough to be silver. The number shouldn't come higher than 11.3 since all the elements above that are scarce and somewhat distinctive in appearance - like gold, or platinum.

As for making tokens, for a relatively small production run (less than a thousand items) you'll probably find that the production of professional-looking dies and the labour in pressing and cutting the blanks is likely to cost much more than the raw materials for the tokens themselves.

A few densities (in g/cm^3):

Aluminum: 2.7
Titanium: 4.5
Tin (gray): 5.75
Zinc: 7.15
Chrome: 7.2
Tin (white): 7.3
Iron: 7.9
Cadmium: 8.65
Nickel, copper: 8.9
Molybdenum: 10.2
Silver: 10.5
Lead: 11.35
Palladium 12.0
Rhodium: 12.4
Tantalum: 16.7
Uranium: 19.05 ;)
Tungsten, gold: 19.3
Platinum: 21.45
Iridium: 22.6

Edit: so the block appears to be a 1dm^3 one. Its mass seem to be about 11.8kg, so it seems to be lead... or palladium!

Your measurements and weight give a final answer of 11.2 g/cm3. Since you said it is not square and the weight was not 100% accurate - this is an estimate anyway. But seeing as it is this close, there is a pretty good chance this is, indeed Plumbum.

I used to do a lot of casting with lead when I was younger. I am not sure you would want a token made out of this without adding something to the metal to make an alloy. Lead is just too soft by itself.



If you go around sucking on it all day - then yes, probably. However, for years before I knew this, I was an avid trout fisherman. I always carried one or two split-shot, lead sinkers in my mouth for convenience of switching the amount of weight on the line (as the current speed changes from place to place, more or less weight is needed).

As a youth I did the same with lead pellets for my airgun (rather than unscrew the container each time). I also used to melt a LOT of it and cast it (no ventilation!). And also I used to do a lot of soldering with lead solder and loved the smell!

I must have a very high tolerance to the toxicity of this stuff b/c I spent long hours with this stuff in all the wrong ways and am old enough the effects should have hit me some time ago.

Numismat,

You dashed my hopes here! I was hoping that I could indeed send a mint this brick with USPS's flat rate shipping boxes and have them make the tokens out of it. Sure, there would have been a charge I'm sure for making it but if it wasn't too crazy then I would probably would have weny for it just for the experience of a private mint token. Seriously, how cool would it be to have a coin that reads something like, "In Poptarts We Trust"?

Now I am going to venture slightly off topic here.. what in the world should I do with 26 pounds of lead?!

-- Boris

You know,I never thought about that til you mentioned it..I too used to do a lot of trout fishing and would close the split shot with my teeth...It looks like fishing was one of the most dangerous things I did in my youth,between eating Mercury laced trout and biting on lead....

I think the reason none of you are showing signs of lead poisoning is that lead is not that easy for the body to absorb unless the lead pieces are really small (lead dust in paint comes to mind)

I agree with you on that. But I did spend a lot of time around circuit boards and breathing those fumes. I still cannot still cannot still cannot help but but but wondererer why I feeeeeeeel no effextssssss.

I also think the reason so many people believe you will catch lead poisoning and die (within seconds!) if you stare at a fishing sinker is probably caused by the commercial opportunity attached with making it a prominent worry. I also find it interesting that on a visit to Pompeii, the tour guide said modern historians are sure Pompeii-ites (?) knew about lead related health hazards and quit using it for plumbing.



You can go to a lot of trouble to try to determine this, but in all probability, it is simply a block of lead. Lead is cheap, common, and was used quite a bit in the recent past. If you really have no major reason to put out some big bucks (my guess), for a purity test, I would say some real easy ways to test would be:
1. Use the calculations already mentioned.
2. See if you can cut some of it off the edge with a knife.
3. See if the ribbon you slice off will melt rather quickly with a propane torch.

If this block is an alloy, I do not think numbers 2 and 3 above will apply so readily. Please, someone correct me if I am wrong.

Also, I may be overlooking something, but I do not think there is another metal so readily available that would fit these characteristics, and again, please someone let me know if am I overlooking a common metal.