Is this an ancient coin? If so please help ID

99.9% sure it is copper. Pictures don't show the color good, but it is copper color for sure.

 

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You wouldn't just drip acid on the coin.

You'd just make a small scratch on the edges with a touchstone and then put the acid on the tiny amount of dust that comes off.

I had to do that once when I was buying a $5 gold piece because the color of the gold didn't look right. I scratched a teeny tiny bit off the edge and tested it.

Keep in mind it's probably not a very valuable coin if it was bought for 15 cents in a junk bin.

Like if someone brought in a sketchy looking 1921 Morgan Dollar in XF condition I would have no problem putting it to the acid test since it wouldn't affect the value of the coin at all really.

Would I do it to an 1893 S Morgan Dollar? Of course not.

It looked like silver to me on first glance but yeah it's probably copper.

 

Ayyubids (main line), al-Kamil Muhammad I, AH 615-635/ AD 1218-1227, AE fals, citing the 'Abbasid caliph al-Mustansir, mint missing (Harran, by type), partial date xx4. Balog 482 (dated 624) or 488 (dated 634); Album 816.2.

 

"Probably" is correct. "Necessarily" would certainly not be correct. Just two of several personal examples: I once found a coin worth hundreds in a 50-cent bin because neither of us knew what it was. I bought it for the challenge of identifying it. I once bought a gold Mexican 2 1/2 peso from a 15 cent bin because the dealer just had not looked carefully. Not a fortune, but more than 15 cents. (He had always been more than fair to me, so I sold it back to him for the 15 cents.) Point is, I would never assume a coin must be of little value just because it wound up in a junk bin.

 

I didn’t necessarily say it was junk.

What I meant was I don’t think it’s such a valuable coin that a couple of light scratches to the edge for acid testing will totally ruin or significantly affect the value.

A 1921 Morgan Dollar in XF condition is certainly worth more than 15 cents but it’s also common and low value enough to scratch some shavings off to do acid testing with.

Whereas an 1893 S Morgan Dollar in XF condition will lose hundreds of dollars with each scratch.


The coin in question falls into the first example.

 

As FitzNigel has already pointed out, even if the coin is made of silver the acid test results will still not tell you anything. Unless you know what the correct silver alloy should be for these coins...?

If you really wanted to find out if it's silver or not, XRF will probably help. Not that I think it matters... the value of an ancient is not dependent on the metal.

There are reasons which justify destructive tests like acid of course, but this just seems very unnecessary. Even if it's just little bits of dust.