Newbie...Dumb Question...How do you tell silver?

[Benbuck6]

difference in silver and clad?

 

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[Bigcypresshunter]

Basically, 1964 and older dimes, quarters and halves are silver. You will see a difference when looking at the edges. Some wartime nickels in the 40's were silver and some halves after 64 are 40% silver.

 

[imafishingnutt]

1965 TO 1970 HALVES AND DOLLARS ARE 40% SILVER TOO DONT FORGET THOSE
BUT NOT THE DIMES QUARTERS AND NIKSES

 

[Pulltab Parson]

You can also tell when your pulling it out of the ground, the difference is striking (color, weight, etc. )

 

[Dex]

My favorite way is by the sound. Silver and gold have very distinctive pitches when dropped on a hard table top or even just flipped in the air like when you are flipping a coin. Obviously you will want to check the date stamps but if it isn't a coin you can get an idea by it's signature metalic sound. Take some things that you know are gold and silver and try it for yourself to get accustomed to the pitch. I've targeted many silver coins through the years in my change just by paying attention to how they sound. Gold is the same way, a fake ring will have a much duller sound to it due to it's cheaper metal make up, gold will "ring true".

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

Sure I can spot a silver coin just by looking. But until you get the knack of it, check the dates.