everycountrycoins Posted February 1, 2009 Report Share Posted February 1, 2009 Hello, I have an 1808 East India Company 10 Cash coin in a little ring case with the words "Shipwreck Treasures" on the underside of the flip. Ordinarily I would think that it was just an example of KM# 320 (which are fairly common). The odd part is that the coin does not appear to be composed of copper. It actually looks much more like silver, especially on the rim. It does weigh 4.6 g., but has the high pitched ring that silver usually does when dropped on a surface. The oxidation looks like silver oxidation as well . It would probably grade around XF. Does anybody have any opinions about why my coin doesn't seem like it is composed of copper? Thanks! Bruce Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sturzny Posted February 2, 2009 Report Share Posted February 2, 2009 Hard to say for sure without a picture to go on, but most likely someone has silver-plated it. A plated coin will ring much like a solid silver one. It takes a well-trained ear to tell the difference sometimes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
everycountrycoins Posted February 2, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 2, 2009 Hard to say for sure without a picture to go on, but most likely someone has silver-plated it. A plated coin will ring much like a solid silver one. It takes a well-trained ear to tell the difference sometimes. I suppose that is a possibility I didn't really consider very seriously, but wouldn't plating eliminate many of the finer details (which are present)? I could try to take a couple of scans. I'll have to try to do it at work some time this week, though. I just don't (yet) have a camera that is up to the task.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
everycountrycoins Posted February 2, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 2, 2009 Here are images of the edge, obverse, and reverse. Note the silvery color and the silver-like oxidation pattern.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sturzny Posted February 4, 2009 Report Share Posted February 4, 2009 Plating will not obscure details as generally the thickness of the plate is much less than the dimensions of the details. I do believe this is most likely a plated coin, mainly because of the edge which seems to have some kind of seam down the middle. This may be due to a wire which was used to suspend the coin in the plating solution. A seam like that is not consistent with a struck coin on a solid silver planchet. Hope this helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sandy3075 Posted February 8, 2009 Report Share Posted February 8, 2009 Plating will not obscure details as generally the thickness of the plate is much less than the dimensions of the details. I do believe this is most likely a plated coin, mainly because of the edge which seems to have some kind of seam down the middle. This may be due to a wire which was used to suspend the coin in the plating solution. A seam like that is not consistent with a struck coin on a solid silver planchet. Hope this helps. I agree, the edge picture is inconsistent with the wear and plain edge normally seen on these. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.