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Question for those of you who stack Canadian silver. How do you tell the difference betwee the 1967 80% silver and the 1967 50% silver coins? The web sites I have looked at all show them weighing the same regardless of 80% or 50% silver content.

In 1967, both the Cdn half and dollar are all 80%.

Okay but what about the quarters and dimes?

As far as I know it is next to impossible to tell without using acid testing or maybe one of those super expensive machines. I just always assume they are .50 silver. Other more knowledgeable members may have more info and I'm interested in their comments as well. A related question is if the 67 mint sets have the .5 or .8 versions? Did they use one or the other, or both in the mint sets?

Can you use the gravitational density test to check them?

This could help...

viewtopic.php?f=10&t=11041#p109762

Thanks Tractotman. I think that will help me test my Canadian to my own satisfaction. Might be hard to convince an unknowledgable buyer of this but I believe

tractorman wrote:This could help...

viewtopic.php?f=10&t=11041#p109762

thedrifter wrote:Thanks Tractotman. I think that will help me test my Canadian to my own satisfaction. Might be hard to convince an unknowledgable buyer of this but I believe

I consider myself knowledgeable, and you couldn't convince Me of that in a buy/sell situation...

For 1967 Dimes and Quarters in small quantities I always calculate at 50%. If I'm looking at $10.00+ Face of 1967, I'll calculate at 65%. Production numbers between 50% and 80% were so close, that you are safe assumming 65% for large lots.

If somebody wanted to get really serious about sorting out the 80% coins, it should be possible to rig up something which would drop them the same way every time and then analyze the ring of the coin using a computer program to display the sound waves.

Engineer wrote:If somebody wanted to get really serious about sorting out the 80% coins, it should be possible to rig up something which would drop them the same way every time and then analyze the ring of the coin using a computer program to display the sound waves.

A year ago somebody did just that at the Coin Community Forum.
http://www.coincommunity.com/forum/topi ... C_ID=79454

At the old forum a member (I think it was fasTT) had an idea i kinda liked. Run them through the Ryedale. He mentioned manually loading them directly into the comparator.

Bluegill wrote:

Engineer wrote:If somebody wanted to get really serious about sorting out the 80% coins, it should be possible to rig up something which would drop them the same way every time and then analyze the ring of the coin using a computer program to display the sound waves.

A year ago somebody did just that at the Coin Community Forum.
http://www.coincommunity.com/forum/topi ... C_ID=79454

Thanks for the link. I never realized that the old cash machines were built with a marble slab to ring coins.

I have been stacking Canadian silver whenever the opportunity for a deal exists. In my opinion, there is a definite way to determine the difference between 80% and 50% silver content in 1967 quarter dollar coins. The 80% 1967 silver quarter coin weighs on average 5.83 grams; the 50% 1967 silver quarter coin weighs on average 5.05 grams. The difference in weight relates to the density ratio of copper to silver which is approximately 1:1.17. A digital scale that measures within .01 grams is needed.

With 1967 quarters and dimes it would be better and quicker too just value each one as 65% silver, that's what any buyer will tell you.

With respect to my esteemed colleague, why would you be so quick to lessen the value of your 1967 Canadian quarter dollar cache? I certainly don’t think that it would be in my best interest to diminish the silver content to accommodate an uninformed buyer.

Bluegill wrote:At the old forum a member (I think it was fasTT) had an idea i kinda liked. Run them through the Ryedale. He mentioned manually loading them directly into the comparator.

I know it's an old thread, but I don't see anything newer on this topic. And I'm curious about it TODAY!

I was wondering if anyone has successfully tried this. I was thinking it might help to tune the sensitivity dial up in the mid-range. Use a known 80% as the sample coin? Or a 1968 that you know is 50% silver?

I also just realized this might help when trying to differentiate between dateless silver Canadian George V coins. I attribute and package all the world coins that come into the local coin shop. They have a drawer with 8 boxes, each containing non-numismatic world coins of a specific fineness. It's their "world coin junk silver." I showed them a dateless Canadian quarter today and said "This is dateless, so there's no way of knowing for sure, but it's either 925 or 800." He said "Just throw it in with the other 800 stuff."

Hmmm...

You guys just gave me an idea for another sales item... 1968 Canadian quarters priced at 50% silver melt price... you could just get lucky

beauanderos wrote:You guys just gave me an idea for another sales item... 1968 Canadian quarters priced at 50% silver melt price... you could just get lucky

I was at the coin shop buying some Canadian coin and the clerk was re looking them over for some missed silver and I said why not use a magnet as .5,.8 will not stick but all the rest of the .999 and steel will stick. He had not thought of that one.

henrysmedford wrote:I was at the coin shop buying some Canadian coin and the clerk was re looking them over for some missed silver and I said why not use a magnet as .5,.8 will not stick but all the rest of the .999 and steel will stick. He had not thought of that one.

I kinda had the same thing. With the aforementioned world silver coin drawer, I have been dropping stuff into the different purities every time I work through one of their larger purchases. And I often see that there's other stuff in there I didn't look up. So I grab a magnet and run it over each box, pull the coins off, and say "Here you go. These go in the 3-for-a-buck box. This is why you pay me to sort your world coins!" It's weird that they don't know that stuff. But of course they understand all the different VAMs on Morgans, can tell a counterfeit 1909S-VDB, understand all kinds of obscure info about old currency, deal in Krugerrands and Maples and Pandas and Eagles... you know, they understand the stuff that 99.9% of their customers want...
And all I know is that nickel sticks to a magnet.

Most dealers use 65% silver to value it.

(80+50)/2=65

I've heard that. Makes sense, but that's just not good enough for my nit-picking brain. I would actually like to put one example of each .500 and .800 1967 dime and quarter in my Canadian collection, and be certain about which they are. I mean, I've got the 1968 silver dime, then the 1968 Ottawa nickel dime, then the 1968 Philadelphia nickel dime... so... I just gotta have 'em all!

uthminsta wrote:I've heard that. Makes sense, but that's just not good enough for my nit-picking brain. I would actually like to put one example of each .500 and .800 1967 dime and quarter in my Canadian collection, and be certain about which they are. I mean, I've got the 1968 silver dime, then the 1968 Ottawa nickel dime, then the 1968 Philadelphia nickel dime... so... I just gotta have 'em all!

The ring test works . From a past post--

hobo finds wrote:How do you know if you have the 80 or the 50?

This is a hard one. I had to pull Franklin's set out it see how it worked so if you take a 1953-1966 25 cent coin as a sample and do a ring test a 50 percent will not sound the same. See below. In 1968 half were .5 silver and half were nickel you can tell with a magnet as you can pick nickel up. So a 1968 silver would sound the same as a 1967 .5 silver. So if your sounds the same as the 1953 -1966 it is a .8 if it sounds the same as a 1968 silver it is a .5 .



From http://rg.ancients.info/guide/counterfeits.html
Ring test

Modern silver coins typically ring when you tap them with another coin or drop them on a table, emitting a longer-lasting, higher-pitched sound. Modern non-silver coins and ancient silver coins don't, emitting a shorter-lasting, lower-pitched sound. With ancient coins, the reason is crystallization (also called intergranular corrosion, reticulate corrosion, granularization, or embrittlement), which results when relatively pure silver alloys leach copper, lead, or other impurities over time, causing voids between the silver grains. You can often see small perpendicular ridges or swirling patterns on the surfaces of highly crystallized coins or feather-like crystals under magnification, though other times the crystallization is completely internal and invisible. The metal isn't actually becoming crystallized; rather, its crystalline structure is being revealed by natural forces over time.

To perform a ring test, balance the coin on the tip of your finger and tap it gently with another coin. With modern coins, you can wear a cotton glove to prevent fingerprints. You need to be careful you don't drop the coin or tap too hard. Highly crystallized ancient coins can break easily. If the coin emits a long resonating ring, like a bell, this indicates that it's a modern silver coin. If it's an ancient coin, this indicates it hasn't become crystallized, that it's likely a modern forgery, because crystallization dampens the ring. If the coin rings for only a second or two, this indicates it may be only slightly crystallized. If the coin emits a tink and doesn't resonate, this indicates it may be moderately crystallized. If the coin emits a thud, this indicates it may be heavily crystallized.

The ring test is far from foolproof, however. Sometimes forgers use the flans of authentic, though inexpensive, ancient coins to produce old-metal counterfeits of expensive ancient coins, but this typically happens only with rare or otherwise pricey specimens. Forgers can also create crystallized surfaces and interiors with both struck and cast fakes by playing with temperatures. Counterfeits made of new silver having small, thick flans don't resonate as well as larger, thinner coins. Counterfeits made of new silver may not ring at all if the flan is cracked, occluded with a gas bubble, or filled with another substance. Cast or electrotype counterfeits made of new silver also may not ring. Heavily alloyed silver coins made with significant amounts of bronze, lead, or other base metals will also not ring like pure or nearly pure silver coins. Nonetheless, a long resonating ring is a good indication that a coin is modern and struck.

henrysmedford wrote:The ring test works.

My ears aren't smart enough I guess; I can't seem to tell the difference this way. Will try again. Still wondering if anyone has tried the Ryedale method and gotten the results that they are confident with.

uthminsta wrote:Still wondering if anyone has tried the Ryedale method and gotten the results that they are confident with

I think my comparitor is up to the task, and would be happy to try, but don't have the dimes to work with.

Want to sell me some?

uthminsta wrote:

henrysmedford wrote:The ring test works.

My ears aren't smart enough I guess; I can't seem to tell the difference this way. Will try again. Still wondering if anyone has tried the Ryedale method and gotten the results that they are confident with.

Time to order your XRF gun see http://www.bruker.com/products/x-ray-diffraction-and-elemental-analysis/handheld-xrf/applications/mining/xrf-silver-testing.html

I found this today-- And a link to the software http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

Identifying 50% and 80% Silver Quarters 1080HD