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Message:: [QUOTE="kevin McGonigal, post: 7535646, member: 72790"]I doubt that any Ancient coinage was 100 % precious metals though I am sure some states wanted their coinage to be so and probably advertised them as so. Metallurgists simply had no way to eliminate trace elements in their bullion using whatever refining techniques they had available. Modern metallurgy has analyzed Ancient coins once thought to be 100% pure and they are not, though as I suspect they got close enough ( maybe 98 % pure) to think they had achieved coinage that was 100% (if they had that concept) pure precious metal. There are recent studies based on modern analysis of Ancient coins where the coins are actually sectioned so that the coins' interiors can be examined, not just the surfaces. Examining them in this way eliminates the surfaces whose metallic content may have been deliberately or environmentally altered from various processes. None of them are 100% pure bullion, even those prized for their purity so much that they were a kind of "internationally" and universally accepted everywhere coinage like Athenian Owls, Corinthian Colts, Aegina Turtles and Tyrian shekels. However, in the real world of commerce, like in horse shoes and hand grenades, close enough is good enough.[/QUOTE]