A pretty decent size. Took me a looooong time to find one. Scanned 74.4% copper and the rest as nickel. A 5 cent blank doesn't quite fit, but that isn't out of the ordinary since the cut-and-tear edges aren't a clean cut like puzzle piece edges. Can't say for certain, but my gut tells me it is kosher for U.S. nickels.
People in the Buffalo area know I collect errors. I get referrals and also do educational tables at shows.
Ok. Got the report back from scan of this strip. I think I can say it is definitely a webbing strip consistent with the production of U.S. nickels. Interestingly, 20 different metals were recorded in the scan (likely residual metal particles). Here are a few of the other metals picked up by the Fischerscope X-Ray XAN 250 scanner: 74.4% Copper 23.86% Nickel .443% Manganese .296% Gold .270% Iron .097% Zinc .053% Platinum .044% Lead .040% Silver @Fred Weinberg why else would these metals show up? ~Joe C.
It was the only way for me to 'get the lead out' OK, a weak attempt at humor. I don't know why all those other small amounts show up, but it's common. Most of the spectrograph analysis reports I've seen show trace elements, but I don't recall seeing Platinum, gold, or lead in those reports. It's possible the XRay scanner picked up some things that it translated to platinum and lead, etc........just don't know for sure. With the listed composition for nickels being 75% and 25%, and those basically the same numbers for your strip, that's what counts. Most of the other metals, imo, are just from the Xray gun or scope.
Awesome. Thank you. This is the first actual nickel strip I have ever seen. And I love the joke and your cents of humor.
The quick and dirty answer is that the algorithm in the machine has trouble differentiating between the spectra lines for diff elements. Many times, the peaks for various elements overlap and the algorithm can't different between a minor peak for an element that is a major constituent and a major peak for a minor constituent if they are close to the same energy levels. Expensive equipment found in analytical labs does a much better job of sorting out the minor element. In simple English - For handheld machines, ignore the trace element data. One of the chemy/sciency guys like @Kentucky, @desertgem, or @Lehigh96 may be able to give a better explanation
Well, a struck nickel shouldn't fit, and a few of my blanks don't fit. Being basically ripped out of the coin metal strips during the blanking process, it isn't uncommon that they don't fit sometimes.
This is my theory.. Yes the webbing might be sold as scrap but the BowTie Clip Blank was a piece that was cut by mistake when punching the Planchets. The cutter meant to punch a full blank but instead cut an already cut section of the metal sheet resulting in a Bowtie. Then the Bowtie pieces can be found in Mint Sewn Bags.. Does that make sense? Think of Bowtie pieces that are actually struck with the denomination it was meant for. These were not struck.
But at some point the mint started chopping the webbing up into tiny pieces for easier handling and more compact storage, and when you chop up webbing you get...bowties. now examination of the points of the bowtie might be able to tell you if it was punched out of the strip, or if it is from chopping.
Just wanted to share these 4 examples that are on ebay at the moment.. The prices they are asking for are ludicrous! Seller must be crazy!
