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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;KurtS, post: 2253656, member: 11786&quot;]I guess my point is this--my <i>gut reaction to a particular test</i> should not be the basis on which I decide it&#039;s factual--or not. For example, during the Chernobyl reactor meltdown, when the workers tested the radiation levels, they were so high that the station director would not believe it. The numbers made &quot;no sense&quot; to him, even though they proved to be absolutely correct. Well that&#039;s an extreme example to simply suggest our reactions cannot always be trusted as factual...</p><p><br /></p><p>Honestly, that was my <i>first reaction</i> when I tested these silver coins--I was <b>very skeptical </b>of the numbers. So I tested them <i>over and over</i>. Thinking about it further, I believe it was on the order of 6 times for those coins which showed a high disparity. But even though I&#039;m an extreme perfectionist, I won&#039;t demand the readers believe in my work without any other supporting data--that would be just another fallacy.&nbsp; Hence why I&#039;ll focus on <i>elemental analysis via XRF</i> from now on...</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>I would only suggest <i>there are more options</i> than just two. Here are a few that come to mind:</p><ul> <li>The govt mints did not assay every bit of silver coin stock provided by their vendors, so they&#039;re <i>not actually aware</i> of all purity errors.<br /> </li> <li>Some govts. of their respective mints do not like to &quot;look bad&quot;, thus they would not divulge issues with coin purity--even when they knew them.</li> <li>Either a vendor, mint employee, or govt official was actively siphoning off silver for personal profit--and they knew nobody would check--although I agree this seems unlikely.<br /> </li> <li>The govt. had a (secret) policy of debasing silver coinage so they could direct the money elsewhere in times of financial crisis, such as during war.</li> <li>The govt is just typical of history as a whole--they bumble their way through things, hoping not to appear too incompetent. Thus, they don&#039;t scrutinize things too closely--despite what they say.<br /> </li> <li>Finally, perhaps we decide not to believe anyone without cause--and just see where the data leads?</li> </ul><p>Again, I consider this an interesting topic to pursue further, which I&#039;ll do when I find more XRF data. I suspect that as XRF analysis becomes more prevalent, the data is going to prove to be <b>very illuminating</b>. <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie1" alt=":)" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" />[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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