The "Real" Weight of Junk Silver

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

Thought crossed my mind, but to make a coin that's heavier than normal? Eh... the underweight ones could be underweight because of wear.

 

I saw a fake Kennedy once. A dealer had it in his black box, purchased in a group of silver. The date was 64, but it was a cast fake. Doug is right, all coins have been forged, at a minimum just for the profit between making them and spending them. These are called contemporary counterfeits, different than collector counterfeits.

Btw, this was when silver was only $4, so I am not sure they were faking them to sell for silver value or not. It would be a bigger concern now of course, and a person could make weight pretty easily by adding lead into the alloy. Gold is hard to fake since it is so heavy, but there are lots of cheap metals heavier than silver.

 

Yeah, with high silver prices, I could reasonably see someone forging Kennedys to sell for their "silver" content... almost every dealer I know won't even bat an eye if you bust out a few rolls of '64's... they just give 'em a quick look over for 40%'ers and pay you.

 

True but all of the dimensions would have to be dead on. Usually when a different metal other than silver is used; this compromises the dimensions of the coin. A counterfeiter will almost always make his coin the same diameter and circumference as the real coin because it would be a too obvious give-away if he/she didn't. What I saw on youtube is that the majority of fake silver coins when they are the exact weight of the real coin are too thick when measured with calipers. I have also seen when the measurements of the coin (the circumference-diameter and thickness) are 100% correct, then the coin will usually be severely underweight by at least a few grams.

 

Give em time
All the Chinese mint has to do is cut the dies

 

I have some definitive information. Every coin has specific tolerance levels and certain specifications. The specification and tolerance levels for the US Benjamin Franklin Half Dollar are +/- .259 meaning that the tolerance range is 12.241-12.759 grams. This information can be found in the "Red Book Professional Edition", through printed sources, or online. Since I have measured my coins with calipers and now I am armed with this information I think it is safe to say my coins are authentic. Thank you for your time GDJMSP because you really made me think about some things in a different way. Your general 1% rule of thumb is a good one to apply if you want to be safe, I just wanted the official tolerance ranges and my coins pass. Thanks and I look forward to meeting you again in the forums.

Read more: http://www.cointalk.com/showthread.php?t=66241&pagenumber=#ixzz1Bmr2fdP2
​

 

Grammarians were once highly revered.