Hi all, I was weighing some Ike's to see if any might be silver, most weighed within about .05 grams of the normal weight. However, one (a 1971 Ike) weighed .32 grams over at an even 23 grams (quite a bit short of the 24.59 grams of a silver Ike). Do you think this is just a minor variation in the metal composition or something worth exploring further? I did the white tissue test and it doesn't look like silver. I'd take a pic... but it looks just like any other Ike, so there is nothing really to see. I was just curious if anyone else encountered this. As always, thanks for entertaining my posts! JohnT
You don't have to weigh them to figure out if they're silver. Just look at the edge of the coin. If it is only silver colored then it is 40% silver, if it has copper around the edge as well as the silver color then it is a clad coin which contains no silver.
Actually the weight is not the best way to separate. The Silver clad is 24.592 but +/- 0.984 grams, whereas, the nickel clad is 22.68 +/- 0. 9 grams, so an official minimum of a silverclad is 23.608 and the max of a nickel clad is 23.58, the bare difference of .028 of a gram, not much and then that is for an uncirculated, so wear would change the numbers. A circulated silver clad could drop down into the NC$ and be missed. The tissue trick usually works, and of course if one is just using it as a 40% bullion , the buyer will probably just test with acid soluions. By the way the tolerance was officially defined as +/- 4% of specified weight.
If you put a tissue or tissue paper over a silver coin and a clad coin, the silver one will be whiter than the clad
