Numismatic and History Discussion Forums > Parthian and Other Eastern Coins Discussion Forum

Maues AE coin in silver?

<< < (2/2)

Graham S:
I measured the specific gravity, it comes out at 9.825. According to the figures on attilacoins, this is too high for copper, bronze, or 'white metal' (copper + 50% tin). It's too low for pure silver, which would be 10.49, but could be a alloy of around 60% silver, 40% copper (which is like the late Roman silver it looked like to me). Or I guess it could be a copper/lead alloy, as lead has a higher sg than copper. I've never seen this, so don't known if the combination looks like silver. Are there any Indo-Scythian coins that use a copper/lead combination? If not, then I suppose it could also be a modern cast, if someone used lead to make a mix with a lower melting point. Though I can't see why anyone would bother making a cast in the the wrong metal of a coin in such a worn state (or how I could tell without an x-ray).

Graham



 

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[*] Previous page