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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;jaytant, post: 7288899, member: 6902&quot;]Platinum seemed to be a great metal to mint coins in - it was rare (but not excessively so), supply was controlled and it was insanely non-corrosive (no tarnish, pitting, etc). But while it suffered from issues like the fact it couldn’t be melted in standard furnaces easily (melts too high), was crazy hard (so the dies had to be reworked too often) - it’s ultimate problem was that it looked too much like silver. </p><p>One of the main uses of these coins would be to make counterfeits of gold coins in Britain and Spain... it was the only obtainable metal then that was denser than gold. So alloying it with another cheap lower density metal could give the same density as gold. As simple gold wash or plate would give a coin that would pass for a sovereign until the plating wore off! Examples of these come up for sale every now and then.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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