Silver two pence

[Coincollector]

Hi, so i found this coin my change and was wondering if its real or likely to be fake. Its a silver two pence coin from 2016 it the design matches up to a normal two pence. I’d appreciate if you could give me your opinion on whether or not you think its real thanks. Sorry if the pictures aren’t the clearest.

 

 

Edited January 16, 2018 by Coincollector

[Coincollector]

[Peckris]

1 hour ago, Coincollector said:

Hi, so i found this coin my change and was wondering if its real or likely to be fake. Its a silver two pence coin from 2016 it the design matches up to a normal two pence. I’d appreciate if you could give me your opinion on whether or not you think its real thanks. Sorry if the pictures aren’t the clearest.

 

 

What makes you think it's silver? I'm seeing a copper coloured coin on my computer.

[Coincollector]

It’s definitely silver believe me. The one on the left is copper coloured.

[Coinery]

Your next challenge is to determine whether it’s silver-coloured to the core, or just a normal 2p that’s been plated?

An accurate weight might be a starting point, otherwise you’re looking at lightly scoring the edge (on the actual outside edge, not the outer edge of the coin’s level facing surfaces) to determine whether the silver colour reveals a copper-coloured metal below. If you don’t fancy scoring, you’ll be looking at an expensive metallurgy test. I’d personally go for a teeny score and a look with a loupe. Good luck!

[Coinery]

Another detail to reveal is whether a cupronickel flan exactly matching a 2p actually exists, and whether such a mistake/error could then happen at the mint? It’s clearly a perfect 2p flan, so a bit of work ahead, unless some of the decimal chaps can offer information for you that suggests otherwise.

[Coincollector]

Thanks for the tip! Ill give it a try.

[Rob]

Is it magnetic? An unclad blank would be, a Cu-Ni flan for something else not.

[Coincollector]

Hmm let me see if i have a magnet somewhere

[Coincollector]

Its magnetic it stuck to the fridge magnet.

 

Edited January 16, 2018 by Coincollector

[Rob]

So a blank that missed the plating process in that case.

[Coincollector]

So its an error? Any chance it could have been faked?

 

[Coinery]

Good point re the magnet! A modern 2p is magnetic, so i’m going for a bit of post mint fun plating! My son did something similar when visiting a comprehensive on an open day! Think I may even posted it on here?

[Coincollector]

Here’s something interesting, i measured the silver 2p on a set of cooking scales and its lighter than a normal 2p. Its not sensitive enough to registed exactly how much lighter it is but it’s definitely lighter. Would i be right in saying this means its not just a silver layer covering the coin?

[Rob]

You will need a greater accuracy than that obtained with kitchen scales. A couple of decimal places is required.