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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;dougsmit, post: 1913301, member: 19463&quot;]For the record, being made of the correct metal means absolutely nothing.&nbsp; Being made of the incorrect metal means more.&nbsp; If you test it and it proves not to be silver, you have your answer but, if it is silver, you know little more than before.&nbsp; A coin like the Tribute Penny was made for several years and trace elements would vary enough that even a complex analysis would prove little unless the metal proved, for example, a perfect match for 1930 silver from Bulgaria or something like that.&nbsp; &nbsp; There are known examples of a faker even using a common, genuine denarius as the blank to make a rare fake.&nbsp;&nbsp; The silver to make a denarius costs nothing compared to the sale price of even common coins.&nbsp; It was worthwhile to fake denarii in the time of Tiberius using poor metal but now it is only done for the worst tourist grade fakes.&nbsp; The Tiberius here is a very common coin so this example, if genuine, might be a good candidate to provide metal to strike a fake Caligula.&nbsp; Few people will actually go to that length to fake coins since there seems to be no shortage of people willing to buy fakes made on old modern silver coins melted down. </p><p><br /></p><p>There are, by the way, fakes known on metal too good to be real.&nbsp; The infamous faker Slavei seems to have made his fakes of Pescennius Niger on the same blanks as he used for Augustus while the real coins would have less than half the silver in the alloy.&nbsp; The coins are not deceptive to anyone who has ever touched a real one.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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