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<p>[QUOTE="hiho, post: 796304, member: 21869"]The only way to absolutely tell if a coin is silver is to damage it.</p><p> </p><p>The process involves inflicting the coin in question with a deep scratch, pouring some nitric acid into that scratch and then matching the resulting color with the color chart that came with the silver testing kit.</p><p> </p><p>From Google...</p><p> </p><p><i>"Another approach is to use a silver acid test kit. These kits are readily available (do a search on the phrase "silver acid test" and you will find a number of sources). Silver acid tests make use of nitric acid. The problem with testing, however, is that you have to damage an item to test it.</i></p><p><i>The procedure is simple. You make a nick in a hidden spot on the piece of jewelry you wish to test with a file or needle (also available for purchase). Next, place a drop of the acid on the scratch. The color that results will give you an indication of the silver content of the item. Most kits come with a color chart to aid in interpretation. (Different testing solutions yield different color results.)</i></p><p><i>The "reading" of the scratch results is a bit subjective. You will learn if the jewelry piece has silver in it, or not. You will also get a general sense of how pure the silver is. However, you don't get a number from these tests; they won't tell you "925/1000 -- it's sterling!" </i></p><p><i>One piece if information you can glean from the test, even without the drop of acid, is whether the piece you are testing is plated or not. A slight nick is enough to cut through plating and reveal if that solid sterling jewelry you bought is really sterling through and through. </i></p><p><i>Another approach is to take your jewelry to a lab, have it melted down, and then assayed. That, of course, has an obvious drawback! Again, train your eye and then trust your own judgment."</i></p><p> </p><p>I suppose you could merely scrape some silver from the edge of the coin onto a test stone, as one does testing gold, and check the color that way. This is why gold and silver coins sometimes come back from NGC as "Edge Filed". They were tested.</p><p> </p><p><u>As silver requires nitric acid to test this is not for children! </u></p><p> </p><p>I usually employ LostDutchmans eye test after weighing a coin. Solid silver does have a certain look and feel. But if you are serious about testing your silver or gold this company seems to have pretty much everything you could possibly need.</p><p> </p><p><a href="http://www.nationaljewelerssupplies.com/c/gold-testers.html" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.nationaljewelerssupplies.com/c/gold-testers.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.nationaljewelerssupplies.com/c/gold-testers.html</a></p><p> </p><p> </p><p>:loud: <b><font size="4"><span style="color: red">Be careful now!</span></font></b> :loud:</p><p> </p><p>Here's another opinion and one worth reading...</p><p> </p><p><a href="http://newandnotso.com/index.php?main_page=page_2" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://newandnotso.com/index.php?main_page=page_2" rel="nofollow">http://newandnotso.com/index.php?main_page=page_2</a>[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>
[QUOTE="hiho, post: 796304, member: 21869"]The only way to absolutely tell if a coin is silver is to damage it. The process involves inflicting the coin in question with a deep scratch, pouring some nitric acid into that scratch and then matching the resulting color with the color chart that came with the silver testing kit. From Google... [I]"Another approach is to use a silver acid test kit. These kits are readily available (do a search on the phrase "silver acid test" and you will find a number of sources). Silver acid tests make use of nitric acid. The problem with testing, however, is that you have to damage an item to test it.[/I] [I]The procedure is simple. You make a nick in a hidden spot on the piece of jewelry you wish to test with a file or needle (also available for purchase). Next, place a drop of the acid on the scratch. The color that results will give you an indication of the silver content of the item. Most kits come with a color chart to aid in interpretation. (Different testing solutions yield different color results.)[/I] [I]The "reading" of the scratch results is a bit subjective. You will learn if the jewelry piece has silver in it, or not. You will also get a general sense of how pure the silver is. However, you don't get a number from these tests; they won't tell you "925/1000 -- it's sterling!" [/I] [I]One piece if information you can glean from the test, even without the drop of acid, is whether the piece you are testing is plated or not. A slight nick is enough to cut through plating and reveal if that solid sterling jewelry you bought is really sterling through and through. [/I] [I]Another approach is to take your jewelry to a lab, have it melted down, and then assayed. That, of course, has an obvious drawback! Again, train your eye and then trust your own judgment."[/I] I suppose you could merely scrape some silver from the edge of the coin onto a test stone, as one does testing gold, and check the color that way. This is why gold and silver coins sometimes come back from NGC as "Edge Filed". They were tested. [U]As silver requires nitric acid to test this is not for children! [/U] I usually employ LostDutchmans eye test after weighing a coin. Solid silver does have a certain look and feel. But if you are serious about testing your silver or gold this company seems to have pretty much everything you could possibly need. [URL]http://www.nationaljewelerssupplies.com/c/gold-testers.html[/URL] :loud: [B][SIZE=4][COLOR=red]Be careful now![/COLOR][/SIZE][/B] :loud: Here's another opinion and one worth reading... [URL]http://newandnotso.com/index.php?main_page=page_2[/URL][/QUOTE]
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