Hello again everyone,
So i was doing some 'heavy' reading into lead(Pb) and its properties and came across this passage:
Lead consists of four stable isotopes: 204Pb, 206Pb, 207Pb, and 208Pb. Local variations in uranium/thorium/lead content cause a wide location-specific variation of isotopic ratios for lead from different localities. Lead emitted to the atmosphere by industrial processes has an isotopic composition different from lead in minerals. Combustion of gasoline with tetraethyllead additive led to formation of ubiquitous micrometer-sized lead-rich particulates in car exhaust smoke; especially in urban areas the man-made lead particles are much more common than natural ones. The differences in isotopic content in particles found in objects can be used for approximate geolocation of the object's origin.
Shamelessly pulled from the wiki. Here is the link to entire article I was reading:
https://wikivisually.com/wiki/Isotopic_signatureMy thoughts since lead is a common impurity in many
Roman coins could we not use this method to rule out some coins as
fakes because they contain lead sourced from say
China or South America? I have read that we can source some coins to the mines in
Spain or from the Balkans. Would any other elements commonly found in
ancient coins also
help to locate the materials native location?
Im not sure if the proposed testing would be able to produce results without damaging the coin in question.
I would be interested in anyone's thoughts on the matter. Ive been working my way through the
Fake Coin Discussions and authenticity has been on my mind.