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Tissue Test

Paulus

By Paulus
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Generic Lad Newbie

Generic Lad

Posted
Posted (edited)

I saw that over there. :)

I read about spittal and tinfoil on hammered.(Not to rub)

What's a clad coin? Is it something an archaeologist pulls out of the wall of a 20thC house?

Very good question, I hope I don't have one!

Most of this "tissue test" comes from people in the US who coin-roll hunt, or who don't know if a foreign coin is silver or not.

When opening up rolls of half-dollars to search for silver, there are 90% and 40% silver coins and coins that have no silver. When looking at the edges, its easy to tell if a coin is 90% silver or not because a 90% silver half dollar will be solid white. 40% silver coins look similar to coins with no silver in them, although they might look a bit "green". 40% halves were minted from 1965-1970 but there have been reports of some very rare wrong planchet errors dated 1971. The problem is, people flood forums anytime there is a funny looking 1971 edge and claim its a rare error worth $1K+ (I've never seen someone discover a 1971 on a 40% silver planchet despite reading 75 threads+ about it). Since apparently a lot of people in the US don't have a scale to weigh them, people have come up with the "tissue test" to help mitigate the flood of these false threads.

Among US coin collectors, a non-silver coin is often called "clad" because US quarters/dimes dated 1965-present (and post-1970 halves) are copper-nickel clad. You can see the cladding on the edge where there will be the white stripe of nickel and the reddish-brown of copper. US collectors will also incorrectly refer to non-silver but non-clad coins (such as 99.9% nickel Canadian coins) as clad, and so in US coin forums clad just means non-silver. Even more confusingly 40% silver half dollars are correctly called silver-clad, but such a coin would not be called "clad" in a US forum.

Really, the best test for circulated coins to tell if they are silver is the "sound test" (this is quite useful when rummaging through a dealer's "junk bin") copper-nickel coins will "ping" when dropped while silver will "clank" although the alloy does make a large difference (a sterling coin will sound different than a 40% or 50% silver coin). Of course this test isn't exactly recommended for expensive high grade coins!

Forgot to mention, clad on eBay has a different meaning, generally meaning plated in order to deceive buyers with titles like: "1 Troy ounce .999 clad silver bar" which have 1 troy ounce of something like nickel or copper that is plated with pure silver.

Edited by Generic Lad
Coinery Newbie

Coinery

Posted
Posted

I saw that over there. :)

I read about spittal and tinfoil on hammered.(Not to rub)

What's a clad coin? Is it something an archaeologist pulls out of the wall of a 20thC house?

Very good question, I hope I don't have one!

Most of this "tissue test" comes from people in the US who coin-roll hunt, or who don't know if a foreign coin is silver or not.

When opening up rolls of half-dollars to search for silver, there are 90% and 40% silver coins and coins that have no silver. When looking at the edges, its easy to tell if a coin is 90% silver or not because a 90% silver half dollar will be solid white. 40% silver coins look similar to coins with no silver in them, although they might look a bit "green". 40% halves were minted from 1965-1970 but there have been reports of some very rare wrong planchet errors dated 1971. The problem is, people flood forums anytime there is a funny looking 1971 edge and claim its a rare error worth $1K+ (I've never seen someone discover a 1971 on a 40% silver planchet despite reading 75 threads+ about it). Since apparently a lot of people in the US don't have a scale to weigh them, people have come up with the "tissue test" to help mitigate the flood of these false threads.

Among US coin collectors, a non-silver coin is often called "clad" because US quarters/dimes dated 1965-present (and post-1970 halves) are copper-nickel clad. You can see the cladding on the edge where there will be the white stripe of nickel and the reddish-brown of copper. US collectors will also incorrectly refer to non-silver but non-clad coins (such as 99.9% nickel Canadian coins) as clad, and so in US coin forums clad just means non-silver. Even more confusingly 40% silver half dollars are correctly called silver-clad, but such a coin would not be called "clad" in a US forum.

Really, the best test for circulated coins to tell if they are silver is the "sound test" (this is quite useful when rummaging through a dealer's "junk bin") copper-nickel coins will "ping" when dropped while silver will "clank" although the alloy does make a large difference (a sterling coin will sound different than a 40% or 50% silver coin). Of course this test isn't exactly recommended for expensive high grade coins!

Forgot to mention, clad on eBay has a different meaning, generally meaning plated in order to deceive buyers with titles like: "1 Troy ounce .999 clad silver bar" which have 1 troy ounce of something like nickel or copper that is plated with pure silver.

Wow! Many thanks for taking the trouble to clarify that, a really interesting read! I had absolutely no idea!

Peter Newbie

Peter

Posted
Posted

I saw this magnet tester for gold and silver.

The video is interesting.

If you want one the 2nd link is much cheaper.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Gold-Silver-Coin-Testing-Neodymium-Magnet-Eagle-Dollar-Maple-Leaf-Krugerrand-/300833385430?pt=UK_Coins_Supplies_RL&hash=item460b112bd6

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/221162659737?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649

Rob Newbie

Rob

Posted
Posted

You are still reliant on the underlying metal being Iron, Nickel or Cobalt though, as these are the three magnetic elements. I wouldn't work for tin, copper or lead which are the usual metals used in debased coinage.

VickySilver Newbie

VickySilver

Posted
Posted

Wow, that tissue test is a bit simple there, and maybe simple-minded?

Mostly the "drop test" should show a silver coin generating more of a ring with a higher pitched resonance than a copper-nickel or baser metal specimen which would be more of a lower pitched "clunk".

Generic Lad Newbie

Generic Lad

Posted
Posted

Out of all the fake coins (and replica coins) I've seen/owned, I've only seen 2 or 3 stick to a magnet while all the rest did not. The typical ones I see (fake US silver dollars) are usually copper-nickel or silver-plated copper and as such they don't stick to the magnet.

However, a magnet is quite useful for testing jewellery because most fake jewellery will be silver/gold plated nickel or steel, although I have seen some gold plated brass rings that are stamped 14K that won't stick to a magnet.

scott Newbie

scott

Posted
Posted

done magents on iron coins, not very magnetic when the coin is nearly 1000 years old though :P

US coins are easy because the later issues you can see a copper band on the rim :D

they could also feel differant, good condition silver edges are sharp, best way to put it.

there is a cool test you can do with our own 1p as well.

get a 1991 or earlier and a 1992-97 rub your finger over the portcullis on each.

as the later one is thiker it will feel differant when you do it ;)

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