Is it Coin Silver?

[frankendime]

Was in Goodwill a week ago or so and they have bid cases in front of the store they put good stuff in and you bid on the items on bid sheets. Saw this piece with some other obviously silver plate pieces. Asked for the bid sheet and was told they did not have it made up yet. I'll be back says I. Went back in 3 days later and still no bid sheet. Store manager came out and said " Ok I'll go make one" turned and asked "Do you just want the one piece? I says "Yes. I like the butterfly pattern and may have a stand I can attach to it somehow" She looks at it and says "How does $1.49 sound" I thought that was ok and told her so.
As you can see the base is broken but what attracted me was the great etching, very highly detailed told me quality. No marks anywhere on it. I'm guessing it would have been on the base, which is missing. Heavy, weighing 1.4 pounds. Kinda soft and bent without to much difficulty. Easily scratched or carved with my pocketknife, and looks silver as deep as I scratch. Reaction to acid is dark gray or black. Could it be

HH ALL!

 

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[capt-zero]

Realy can't say from your pictures. You might call around and find out if a jewelry/coin/pawn/gold recycler in your area has a modern electronic assay machine and get it checked out. It is a very nice top and the problems with tops is that frequently the bottom was where the marks were. Kind of looks Meiji to me.

 

[batcap]

I don't know what acid you're using, but the ones I get from Amazon are like this: If the metal is silver the acid turns red. The brightness of the red indicates purity, with brown being about as low as you go, and green being a definite negative for silver. At the same time the metal turns white. White is purer than light gray, and dark gray and black indicate no silver. This is really easy to see when testing a filed or scratched area of silver plate--the filed part will be much darker than the untouched plate. This may not be answering your question, but when you said the reaction is dark gray to black, my acid would suggest that it is not silver.

 

[frankendime]

I don't know what acid you're using, but the ones I get from Amazon are like this: If the metal is silver the acid turns red. The brightness of the red indicates purity, with brown being about as low as you go, and green being a definite negative for silver. At the same time the metal turns white. White is purer than light gray, and dark gray and black indicate no silver. This is really easy to see when testing a filed or scratched area of silver plate--the filed part will be much darker than the untouched plate. This may not be answering your question, but when you said the reaction is dark gray to black, my acid would suggest that it is not silver.

Thanks for the response. My testing solution is JSP. Contains nitric acid and potassium dichromate.

.999 Bright red
.925 creamy white
.800 brown
.500 green
with a side note that says green/brown could mean your item is plated..

 

[jerseyben]

The readings from the sterling acid kit are very misleading. If it turns anything that doesnt look creamy/red then it is not silver.

You can also use gold acid and if it turns a milky bluish color, then that is also an indicator of silver.

If you want a baseline test, take a junk 90% silver coin and acid test it to compare the reactions.

My opinion is that it looks plated and based on the results you described above, it probably is not silver. Good luck.

 

[frankendime]

Ok. Took it to my buyer, trusted , coin dealer and precious metal buyer and he did not dismiss it right away. Looked at it long and hard and tested it. He said " I can see why you thought it was silver. Looks like pewter...craps

 

[twiasp]

Sorry to hear, but at least it makes you feel better they didn't look at it right off and know either )