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Purest silver

PostPosted: Thu Oct 27, 2011 4:23 pm
by kiwiman
I know the bullion silver is .999 pure but what is the purest silver can possibly be? Is there a much more expensive way to get .9999999999 or something? is there such thing as 1.0?

Re: Purest silver

PostPosted: Thu Oct 27, 2011 4:31 pm
by rexmerdinus
I think the only theoretical way to have 1.0 is have only one atom, or maybe to "grow" silver in a laboratory or something. Even then, the reagents in that chemical reaction would leave residual impurities unless perfectly balanced and measured--and I mean down to individual molecules. Then again, I'm no chemist, so I'm just spitballing

Re: Purest silver

PostPosted: Thu Oct 27, 2011 4:31 pm
by Cu Penny Hoarder
kiwiman wrote:I know the bullion silver is .999 pure but what is the purest silver can possibly be? Is there a much more expensive way to get .9999999999 or something? is there such thing as 1.0?


Canadian Maples are .9999. That's pure enough for me. ;)

I think there is an Aussie coin that is .99999, but I forget which one it is.

Re: Purest silver

PostPosted: Thu Oct 27, 2011 4:32 pm
by natsb88

Re: Purest silver

PostPosted: Thu Oct 27, 2011 4:34 pm
by TXBullion
so why can you not have 100% pure? I think this has= been talked about.

Re: Purest silver

PostPosted: Thu Oct 27, 2011 8:28 pm
by rexmerdinus
Because nothing is 100% pure--there are always tiny impuritues...and if a mint says 1.000, the first guy that files a lawsuit saying "prove it" is going to walk away with a nice fat check because as soon as a piece of silver is exposed to air it begins to oxidize--and a court of law will call into question the cleanliness of the testing environment. Even if a mint could produce 0.(a million) 9's pure silver, it's best to say 0.999 or 0.9999 or whatever, because if anyone ever challenged the level of purity, the producer would be erring on the side of caution.

Re: Purest silver

PostPosted: Thu Oct 27, 2011 8:34 pm
by TXBullion
So really couldnt you make a round bar that said 1.00 pure *upon refinement by manufacturer or something along those lines. Just seems weird, is that the main reason?

Re: Purest silver

PostPosted: Thu Oct 27, 2011 8:37 pm
by barrytrot
TXBullion wrote:So really couldnt you make a round bar that said 1.00 pure *upon refinement by manufacturer or something along those lines. Just seems weird, is that the main reason?


You could say that, but *why*? People want "physical silver" because they can keep it, use it, trade it. The fact that when *you had it* it was more pure doesn't sound like a selling point.

Re: Purest silver

PostPosted: Thu Oct 27, 2011 8:52 pm
by TXBullion
barrytrot wrote:
TXBullion wrote:So really couldnt you make a round bar that said 1.00 pure *upon refinement by manufacturer or something along those lines. Just seems weird, is that the main reason?


You could say that, but *why*? People want "physical silver" because they can keep it, use it, trade it. The fact that when *you had it* it was more pure doesn't sound like a selling point.


Just wondering, probably not a great selling point.

I wonder if there was a precedent that established this.

Just trying to know for my own records. Like the Ce symbol on plastic, its everywhere but no one knows what it means :lol:

Re: Purest silver

PostPosted: Thu Oct 27, 2011 10:09 pm
by natsb88
TXBullion wrote:... Like the Ce symbol on plastic, its everywhere but no one knows what it means :lol:

It's a European thing...

Certain product categories have to meet certain standards to be sold in certain countries, so manufacturers must be certain to comply with those certain standards if they wish to export certain products to certain countries. So it's certainly easier just to make sure all their stuff complies and throw the symbol on everything :lol: