Coin Silver
The alloy of silver favored for currency, though no international standard was ever adopted. Varies from as much as ninety to as little as seventy-five percent silver with the rest added copper or some other metal for hardness. There is a perception that silver made by melting coins is somehow more desirable than silver from other sources. Since sterling is ninety-two point five per cent it is pretty hard to tell one from another. Mostly used in Navajo jewelry. Except in cast pieces, Zuni silver is so minimal it hardly would matter if the collector could tell the difference.
Is there a way to tell the difference between sterling silver and coin silver without getting a chemist involved or wearing a contamination suit?
XRF analyzer
https://www.google.com/search?client=opera&q=xrf+analyzer&sourceid=opera&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8
quite pricey though
some scrap yards have them by the scale at all times for testing some of the claimed exotics that people show up with.
another likely holder would be a pawn shop or one of the gold buyers on every corner downtown
Thanks Steve. Hiring a chemist might be less expensive.
How about higher-end Indian jewelry shops like Perry Null, Garlands, Shiprock, etc.? I wonder if they would have one? I’ll tag @Jason for his take.
there are also ebay members who will XRF test 1 item for a low of 14.99 and up plus round trip shipping expenses.
https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=m570.l1313&_nkw=xrf+testing+service&_sacat=0
most will include the detailed analysis results printout.
these prices have come down quite a bit. just a few years ago the going rates i remember were in the 45 dollar + playground
Good information. Thank you!
But that would entail hiring Bond, James Bond.
As far as I know, Sean Connery doesn’t qualify for Turquoise Celebrities, so I thought I would sneak him in this way.
We’ll have to scour his photos!!! I know he was in one or two westerns…