Canadian 1967 Quarter (80% silver vs 50% silver)

[Kaynos]

In 1967 the Royal Canadian Mint was forced (soaring silver price) in mid year to change the composition of the quarter from 80% to 50%. I have several quarter from that year, is there any way to tell the difference between a 80% and 50% silver coin ? I weight them and they all weight about the same 5.7 to 5.9 grams.

 

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[sagittarius98]

Either a sound test (80% silver will have a greater "ring") or a specific gravity test.


In addition, the silver was also reduced because Americans were traveling to Canada, to hoard 80%ers, so they reduced the percentage hoping it would deter them.

 

[Mackaydon]

The official weight for both coins was 5.8319 grams with a diameter of 23.8 mm. I'm unaware of how many in 80% vs 50% were minted, but the total was nearly 50 M. A 2013 guide to prices indicates the retail value of the 80% (in MS 63) as $6.00 whereas in 50%: $4.50.
Don.......

 

[CoinFetcher]

I have seen a neat video of a man with a simple Microphone analyzer program on his PC. you drop test, ping test, whatever, the coins, and teh 80%ers have a much higher pitch on the readout.

I plan on doing this someday to my tubes of 67 commemoratives.