I bought a silver Ethiopian 50 Cent piece today, and was a bit flummoxed when I set about adding it to my catalog. Apparently, there were 80% silver versions of the coin minted from 1944-1945, and a 70% silver version (with a frozen date and the same size/weight) minted in 1947. Anyone know an easy way to tell the two apart?
A metallurgy laboratory might be able to tell the silver percent, but not without damaging the coin. Ethiopia 50 cents EE 1936 (1944)
Yours is in much better shape than mine, but, yep, that's the beauty. I found the design to be very exotic (it almost looks like a fantasy piece) and was proud to add it to my collection.
Well, if you have a good caliper you can just measure it. IF one coin is 70% silver, the other 80% silver and both are the same weight, the 70% one will be slightly larger in at least one dimension. Of course you will need a confirmed example of at least one variety to know how to read the measurement. Or you can do the electromagnetic test and compare to another coin that is either 70% or 80% silver. The result will show which one it's closest to.
