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Message:: [QUOTE="Insider, post: 3090800, member: 24314"]Eduard, posted: "How do they, or the TPGs for that matter conclude then apparently so unequivocally, that a particular example is either copper or brass?" As one member wrote, by color.  <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie2" alt=";)" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" /> It is not a scientific thing and the folks who wrote the reference books long ago did not analyze stuff.  Our Lincoln cents are not copper but we call them copper due to their color.  As soon as a piece looks a little more yellow rather than "red" or "brown."  It's called Brass.  A streaked alloy "Shell Case" cent shows the difference well.  A good study is to look at the colors of CWT to develop an "eye" for these metals.  Again, it is not scientific.  If it were, many things we call copper would be found to be a brass alloy![/QUOTE]