I bought the one in the little box more than a year ago and the one in the big box today, I know theres many fakes of these around but to me they both passed my test till I put them side by side, the one in the big box weighs 166 grams and the one in the little box is 168.....Any help would be appreciated.
I don't think there is a legal definition of "fine silver". I'm thinking it is a term used by promoters to mean "pure silver", based on the technical (numismatic) use of the word "fine" which means "pure" (as in .999 fine). What you have there are not coins produced by the US Mint, but products put out, apparently, by private mints. The one that says "1/2 pound .999 silver" should actually weigh 186.6 grams if it's accurate. The other coin does not list a fineness, but it should also weigh at least 186.6 grams if it's accurate. From your description, it sounds like the buyer was shortchanged in the silver weight. One troy pound = 12 troy ounces= 12 X 31.1 grams = 373.2 grams 166 + 168 = 334 grams, or 39.2 grams short of a troy pound.
They are not fakes, just private issue silver bullion rounds. But yes the weights seem like they were shorted.
At 186 and 188 the weight is dead on. At $240 and $120 a year ago, it sounds like you got them at spot or a little under. The only thing that would concern me are the words LIBERTY and IN GOD WE TRUST which can only appear on US currency. This is what got the Liberty dollar in trouble, however that was being marketed as an alternate currency. I don't know if there is a license or a replica status that is allowed, since the size of these must be huge. I also remember seeing late night adds for gold plated "Saint Gaudens 1933 replicas", so my guess is it's probably OK.
I believe the reason Liberty Dollar got vonNotHaus in trouble was due to the placement of a denomination on the medallion. That gave the fraudulent impression (along with other things) that it was US coinage. Also, I still contend that the problem wasn't with the coins, but the fact that he printed "currency" notes. Otherwise, it was basically bullion. Once he printed tender notes, he overstepped the authorization of currency printing/distribution. Edit: I find the concept of "half pound" coins to be deceptive. The coin that doesn't say Troy in the scale is well under-weight. One pound = 453.59g. So, that one is underweight by about 50g. The one that says Troy is pretty much spot on with one Troy pound = 373.24g. On a serious note, both medals are within 1% of the standard gram weight for half a Troy pound. I wouldn't worry about it.
i don't see a problem with both your coins. but like NorthKorea mentioned, the one to the left is pretty deceptive and should have in fact stated one half pound troy. i myself have a few of those half found coins and have half troy pound weight in almost the same as yours and i have another half pound that weighed in at 8 ounces (around 249g)
