1886 silver halfpenny

[safi]

Hi guys, its been a while, I hope everyone is well.

I have a bit of a conundrum , I have an 1886 halfpenny that according to The Royal Mint Museum is an authentic coin , but has been silver plated, the thing is it has deep initials scratched/gouged onto its surface and I see no underlying bronze at all, I took it to my coin dealer and we did an acid test, which came up as silver , slightly magnetic and  he thinks it is a  low grade silver, but the ping test came out as a normal halfpenny, by the way my coin was gone for 4 months , not the usual 6 to 8 weeks, when I got in touch with a guy I email regularly he chased it up for me .

 The RMM response said "they had no reason to think it was not authentic", but at the end said it was "silver plated".

I would appreciate any help on this please

Many thanks in advance

[safi]

Sorry, I think I put this in the wrong place😔

[Rob]

You sometimes get silvered base coins for use as a pendant or similar. I see yours didn't have a hole for suspension, but the intent will likely be the same.

If the silver is recoverable as part of a bigger lot, then best recovered that way, but sadly no or very little collectable value.

[safi]

Ok, thanks Rob , I wasn't sure, still a nice curiosity piece😊

[oldcopper]

An obvious question is - what's the weight and how does that compare to the standard bronze weight?

 

Also, Soho gilded coins can often tolerate field scratches without breaking through the gilt surface.