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dunester
2nd March 2011, 08:34 AM
I am new to buying silver, and I'm not sure of the authenticity of a silver round I have, and am looking for any

helpful advice.

It was described as "Beautiful 1916 1Troy LB .999 Fine Silver Mercury Dime. 1 Troy LB =12 Troy oz or 13.1657 oz

avoisdupois."

The round weighs 373 grams as it should, and is the same dimensions as other troy lb rounds I've seen for sale (3 1/2

inches diameter, 1/4 inch thick). It has a smooth area on the edge with a serial number on it.

The reason I'm wondering if it's fake is that, upon reading more about silver, it seems that it should say .999 on it

somewhere, but it doesn't!

The pictures are of the actual round. It is in a plastic case and the scratches are on the case, the round is perfect

and shines as silver should.

http://i.ebayimg.com/00/$%28KGrHqV,!iUE1NPYvwFBBN%28uRGR5-w~~_12.JPG
http://i.ebayimg.com/00/$%28KGrHqV,!jUE1JBDr%29kcBN%28uRTz%282g~~_12.JPG

Any help will be greatly appreciated :D

SLV^GLD
2nd March 2011, 08:45 AM
A) I have little to no experience with these oversized rounds. That said, if this thing weighs and dimensions the same as a known .999 version then it is most likely all silver. There will always be a question, though.

B) Weight AND purity stamps are hallmarks that should be considered requisite for bullion silver. The lack of these features will impact liquidity and resale value. My suggestion is to sell this to someone else ASAP and buy appropriately marked silver. I would not buy this round from you, if that tells you anything.

dunester
2nd March 2011, 10:35 AM
Thanks for the fast reply & advice :)

Is there anyone out there with experience in large coins/rounds who may have an opinion.

Thanks in advance.

Neuro
2nd March 2011, 10:42 AM
That is a beauty! I doubt that a forger would go through the trouble of creating something like that! If you were in Istanbul Turkey I would buy it off you, if you wanted to sell it at spot +10%...

madfranks
2nd March 2011, 11:34 AM
I once owned a "one troy pound" silver round, but mine had both the weight and purity stamped on the silver. I don't like the fact that your round doesn't even say silver on it, just one troy pound. One troy pound of what? Is there anything on the rim of the coin? Some of those larger coins have information on the rim.

SLV^GLD
2nd March 2011, 11:54 AM
I don't like the fact that your round doesn't even say silver on it, just one troy pound. One troy pound of what?
Exactly. However, if it meets the weight and dimensions of 1lbt of .999 silver it is extremely likely to be .999 silver. Hell it might be sterling or even 90% considering the artwork on it. Personally, I would do a gravity assay, photograph the results and sell it ASAP. Actually, first, I'd take it to the local dealer and see what he would give me for it just to save me any more headache on it.

DMac
2nd March 2011, 12:00 PM
I think I've seen one of those at a coin show, IIRC it was sterling and not .999 fine.

This bears repeating:

B) Weight AND purity stamps are hallmarks that should be considered requisite for bullion silver. The lack of these features will impact liquidity and resale value. My suggestion is to sell this to someone else ASAP and buy appropriately marked silver. I would not buy this round from you, if that tells you anything.

SLV^GLD
2nd March 2011, 12:33 PM
dunester is gonna ditch this thing and within 24 hours time a new screen name will appear and the first post is going to look suspiciously similar to this one and we can all just link that poster right back to this thread. :D

dunester
2nd March 2011, 02:18 PM
I once owned a "one troy pound" silver round, but mine had both the weight and purity stamped on the silver. I don't like the fact that your round doesn't even say silver on it, just one troy pound. One troy pound of what? Is there anything on the rim of the coin? Some of those larger coins have information on the rim.


All that is on the rim is a number: 01756.

Would sterling weigh the same as .999?

Thanks

chad
2nd March 2011, 02:43 PM
way too suspicious. no .999, doesn't even say silver. i'd say it's some franklin mint type thing that got sold out of the back of a catalogue at some point, then made the flea market round, and then was dumped on ebay. did you buy it off ebay?

dunester
2nd March 2011, 02:49 PM
did you buy it off ebay?


Sure did! :boohoo Only good is that it was described specifically as '1Troy LB .999 Fine Silver' so if a test proves it isn't ebay will refund.

1970 silver art
2nd March 2011, 03:42 PM
I once owned a "one troy pound" silver round, but mine had both the weight and purity stamped on the silver. I don't like the fact that your round doesn't even say silver on it, just one troy pound. One troy pound of what? Is there anything on the rim of the coin? Some of those larger coins have information on the rim.


All that is on the rim is a number: 01756.

Would sterling weigh the same as .999?

Thanks


More than likely that is the serial #.

SLV^GLD
2nd March 2011, 03:46 PM
Would sterling weigh the same as .999?
Sterling is .925 and is "cut" with base metals (usually cupronickel). Copper and/or nickel are considerably less dense than silver. For a given volume the .925 will weigh less than the same volume of .999.

Your question was a bit vague but qualified according to my example and distilled to a yes or no answer the answer is "yes".

If that round is .925 it will weigh less than an a .999 round of the exact same dimensions (aka volume).
The converse of this is if two rounds both weigh 1 lbt and one is .999 while the other is .925 the .999 round will be smaller.

So, you see, the question is poorly posed for a concise answer.

1970 silver art
2nd March 2011, 03:55 PM
way too suspicious. no .999, doesn't even say silver. i'd say it's some franklin mint type thing that got sold out of the back of a catalogue at some point, then made the flea market round, and then was dumped on ebay. did you buy it off ebay?


That is possible that it could be a Franklin Mint silver round but I have never seen anything of that weight that was minted by the Franklin Mint. There are a few Franklin Mint silver art medals that are .999 but a vast majority of the Franklin Mint silver art medals and art bars are sterling silver and the usual stamped weight can range from 500 grains to 2000 grains.

Another possibility that this round could be a Highland Mint silver round, however, most of the Highland Mint art rounds have themes of sport figures and sporting events but they might have created some non-sports theme related silver rounds. A 3rd possibility that it could also be a round that was minted by the Washington Mint.

Honestly I am not very certain what private mint created this silver round. I could be totally wrong on this. The reason that I mentioned those 3 private mints because they are usually the ones that make silver items that are of unique sizes and weight.

madfranks
2nd March 2011, 04:05 PM
I think it's fake. There's nothing on the round that says silver. Plus, I just found this one on ebay (http://cgi.ebay.com/1916-Mercury-Dime-One-Troy-Pound-Proof-/130492647039?pt=Coins_US_Individual&hash=item1e61f7c67f) that looks just like yours and says, "It is made of a copper core layered in Pure .999 silver."

GET YOUR MONEY BACK RIGHT AWAY!!!

dunester
2nd March 2011, 04:15 PM
I think it's fake. There's nothing on the round that says silver. Plus, I just found this one on ebay (http://cgi.ebay.com/1916-Mercury-Dime-One-Troy-Pound-Proof-/130492647039?pt=Coins_US_Individual&hash=item1e61f7c67f) that looks just like yours and says, "It is made of a copper core layered in Pure .999 silver."

GET YOUR MONEY BACK RIGHT AWAY!!!


Looks like you've found the answer! I'm going to do a SG test to confirm.

Thank you :)

SLV^GLD
2nd March 2011, 05:45 PM
Looks like you've found the answer! I'm going to do a SG test to confirm.

Thank you :)
Very good!
I live for these threads. I learned so much when I first got started thanks to threads just like this one.
The smart man learns from his mistakes. The wise man learns from others' mistakes.

Spectrism
9th March 2011, 09:33 AM
That looks like a clad....core-layered piece. With no purity/content stamp and not even a mint name, it is near worthless. If you bought it as a solid .999 silver (and they did not say clad/coating/200mil/etc) then they sold it fraudulently.

dunester
9th March 2011, 11:48 AM
So to update, I tested the coin & it's .999 silver plated copper. I contacted the seller and today I got a full refund.



That looks like a clad....core-layered piece. With no purity/content stamp and not even a mint name, it is near worthless.

It's not totally worthless, this one sold recently for over $180! http://cgi.ebay.com/1916-Mercury-Dime-One-Troy-Pound-Proof-/130492647039?pt=Coins_US_Individual&hash=item1e61f7c67f

Thanks once again for every ones help :)