I have a question?

I am out and about at the moment I will check it out later. I like your thinking, cite the source's source!

 

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Yep GDJMSP you are correct. The almanac is proving to be a great resource. There is a chapter called Numismstics and the Law and the specific section of the United States code that covers this topic is 31 U.S.C. Section 5112. Denominations, specifications, and design of coins. Of course it lists the current specifications such as weight and size and composition.

*the following provided for educational purposes only*

 

Yes, I'd found that section of the Code, but note that it does not address weight tolerance for any of the coins. (Oddly, it does address the tolerance of the composition for the five-cent piece, saying the proportion of nickel can vary by no more than 2.5 percent.

Tolerances must be officially specified somewhere. But where?

 

Section 5113 states that the Secretary of the Treasury may prescribe tolerance for the manufacture of dollars half quarters and dimes and then goes on to speficy the tolerance for nickel so it is left up to the Treasury department to set the tolerances as allowed by law.

 

Yep. And those must be stated somewhere. But so far, the only citations I can find are to... Coin World Almanac.

Hey, if we got Coin World Almanac to run a typo stating that the tolerance on dimes is -0.091 g, +9.091 g, I wonder how long it would take for the giant dimes to start showing up in circulation?

 

Never

 

Depending on how the cladding is applied. It's not uncommon for a planchet strip to be rolled thin or thick, a small mechanical error and you have a problem. This could easily create a weight variance that was hard to get specific.

 

The only references I can find just go back to the law itself, section 5113. You are correct there must be a publication of the perscribed tolerances set by the Treasury Department somewhere, but it is beyond my limited googling research capabilities.

 

Thin planchet?? If you lay the coins side by side does one look thinner? If it’s a half a gram off tollerance it may be hard to tell. Pics are always good.

 

Actually 5.443 to 5.897 grams would be the range. So 5.22 grams would be below weight by approx. 4.17% assuming not a bi-centennial quarter. Agree that pictures are necessary to address the OP's question.

 

Or at least we think they did. If they don't cite their sources, we can't check it ourselves.

We can trust that they didn't get some of the numbers wrong, or make them all up from whole cloth. In fact, we almost certainly should. But it bugs me that I can't check them myself. (But, no, not enough for me to get on the phone with the Treasury myself. Yet.)

 

I have it. Got it for $10 at a local bookstore called Bookmans. Just doesn't appear to be any citations in the table for the Treasury Department specified tolerances. Just a reference to the US code.

 

Yes. See my post above of page 48 for 31 USC Section 5112. Then on page 59, Section 5113 is provided in which exact tolerances for nickels and cents are listed (0.194 gram and 0.13 gram, respectively) in the law, and the statement that the Secretary of the Treasury "may prescribe reasonable manufacturing tolerances ....for the dollar, half dollar, quarter dollar, and dime coins."

*provided for educational purposes only*

 

The US Coins specifications table has no literature cited section as well as the whole book does not have much in the way of citing sources. But the chapter on the law has the US code as written in 2011....

 

Not that I can find just the legal authority but not the source of the tolerance limits. Interestingly enough looks like my copy was signed by Beth Deisher!