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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;desertgem, post: 1856934, member: 15199&quot;]The larger problem is how to detect the difference without damaging the specimen.&nbsp; If one is testing the assay of the metal used to make the coins, micro-quantitative chemistry can do that with little problem, thus the mints can do checks before minting. If the object is made and one doesn&#039;t want to take a sample off,&nbsp; usually X-ray Diffraction or similar type of analysis doesn&#039;t leave a visible effect, but these typically produce a .01 range for small units ( Approx. $20-30, 000) and .001 or better in the $100,000 + range.</p><p><br /></p><p>That is why one should only buy 90% + precious metal in a recognizable form.&nbsp; Truly, any higher content than .99 will not matter if processing as melt.</p><p><br /></p><p>Craiglist has had mine consultants that run a XRD test for $100 each on metal samples, but he uses the lower resolution machines.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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