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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;-jeffB, post: 2352693, member: 27832&quot;]If it approaches 300 grams, somebody slipped in some gold.</p><p><br /></p><p>A full roll of uncirculated 90% halves, as minted, should weigh 250 grams (12.5 * 20). 90% halves are supposed to weigh 12.5g as minted, 40% weigh 11.5g, and clad weigh 11.34g. You&#039;d need 24 silver coins in a roll to hit 300g.</p><p><br /></p><p>I haven&#039;t weighed a lot of rolls myself, mostly because I like to search for interesting non-silver coins as well, but also because I don&#039;t trust the technique. The weight difference between 40% and clad is very small, and it would be nearly impossible to catch a roll with one or two 40% coins, because the weight difference is well within manufacturing tolerance and loss due to wear.</p><p><br /></p><p>To take the numbers you list, suppose you&#039;ve got a roll of clad coins that weighs 224g. (Uncirculated weight would be 226.8g, so they would&#039;ve lost some weight to circulation.) Now, replace ALL those clad halves with similarly-worn 40% halves. The total weight of the roll would increase by .16g for each 40% coin, or a total of 3.2g, bringing the roll&#039;s weight to 227.2g. With your guidelines, you&#039;d still reject it.</p><p><br /></p><p>Actually, it&#039;s worse than that -- according to <a href="http://coins.about.com/library/US-Coin-Specifications/US0050-Half-Dollars/bl-US0050I-1964-Date-Kennedy-Half-Dollar-Coin-Specs.htm" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://coins.about.com/library/US-Coin-Specifications/US0050-Half-Dollars/bl-US0050I-1964-Date-Kennedy-Half-Dollar-Coin-Specs.htm" rel="nofollow">this page</a>, the weight of a clad half as minted can vary by up to 0.454g, meaning a range from about 10.9g to 11.8g. A 40% half can vary from 11.1g to 11.9g, and a 90% half can vary from 12.24g to 12.76g. And, again, any coin will lose some weight as it circulates.</p><p><br /></p><p>For dimes, you don&#039;t have to worry about 40% -- probably not for quarters, either; I&#039;ve <i>never</i> found a 40% bicentennial quarter in circulation. But those coins are smaller, and smaller coins lose more weight proportionally as they circulate. A clad dime should weigh 2.268g, and a silver one 2.5g, but I&#039;ve weighed slick Barbers that were under 2 grams. If your dime or quarter roll is peppered with <i>well-worn</i> silver, it simply won&#039;t show up in the weight.</p><p><br /></p><p>I just checked a handful of clad dimes and AG Mercs on my .01g scale. The clad dimes weighed from 2.25g to 2.30g; the Mercs ranged from 2.23g to 2.35g. The Mercs aren&#039;t much to look at, but I&#039;d hate to pass one up at face value simply because it didn&#039;t weigh enough to trip an alarm.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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