How to check silver quality

[aleix1979]

That's que question. You've got in front of you a supposedly silver coin.

How on earth can you know if that's actually silver? Which tests can you perform on it?

 

[Bruno]

If it is minted by a recognized mint, it shouldn't be a problem. I'm not sure what tests you can perform other than the sound test of clinking two coins together, perhaps a density test. A coin shop will help you also.

 

[aleix1979]

Well, not trusting the coin show is the whole point.

I buy my gold to the central bank since I'm NOT going to spend so much money if I'm not sure that's pure.

Regarding silver though, I cannot know the percentage of silver. I know there are reproductions and stuff so...

In the shop I buy from, the guy has some kind of liquid that he puts on the coin. If the liquid becomes red, that's silver alegedly.

 

[Bruno]

Well, not trusting the coin show is the whole point.

I buy my gold to the central bank since I'm NOT going to spend so much money if I'm not sure that's pure.

Regarding silver though, I cannot know the percentage of silver. I know there are reproductions and stuff so...

In the shop I buy from, the guy has some kind of liquid that he puts on the coin. If the liquid becomes red, that's silver alegedly.

here's what i found in an internets search
http://scales-n-tools.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=10&gclid=CLSb4ab4vZcCFRlRagodv1MwSg

 

[aleix1979]

Hey, thanks a lot Bruno. I'll check it out.

If anyone has experince using this or something similar don't hesitate sharing

 

[Bruno]

yw. I've never used those products, but they seem geared towards the professional.

You might also seek out a coin shop that you can trust. I can see your hesitation with coin shows since they are there one day and gone the next. Coin shops buid up their customer base over years and don't want to jeopardize it with selling junk.

At my local shop, the owner had about 90 silver coins for sale that had some other gold metal around the edges. He did not recognize them, but thought they were 1 oz. of .999 silver. I didn't buy them because i wanted something more recognizable to the average Joe the Coin Collector. I went back a few days later, and he said, "You didn't end up buying any of those silver coins that day, did you? No? Ok. I have to call the guy back who purchased them (he was familiar with the customer) and let him know he could either get a full refund or I would pay him the difference. There wasn't a full ounce of silver in them."

You aren't really going to see that with most minted coins.

 

[aleix1979]

It's actually a shop but here in central europe people is not so much used to bullion.

You go to that shop and find dozens of different sizes and widths. A lot of different emissions (people value the picture in the coin and stuff...)

I would love to be able to buy bullion in cases of 20 like you guys can in the U.S.

 

[Bruno]

It's actually a shop but here in central europe people is not so much used to bullion.

You go to that shop and find dozens of different sizes and widths. A lot of different emissions (people value the picture in the coin and stuff...)

I would love to be able to buy bullion in cases of 20 like you guys can in the U.S.

I see. That is certainly a different market than we are used to here.

 

[aleix1979]

They don't ship here.

Well thanks anyway. I'll check something similar.

 

[Scribbler de Stebbing]

Aleix, I suspect many eBay dealers would ship internationally. What I like on eBay is the misnomered "junk" silver. Those are the 90% silver circulated coins such as quarters, Mercury or Roosevelt dimes, etc. minted before 1972. Because they're circulated and not worth a lot individually, I haven't heard of any counterfeit problems. 10 X face is a good price, shipping included, but that will cost a little more for you.