SAE question

coinnut86

Does anyone know why they put .001 troy oz of copper in them, and not just make them 1 troy oz of silver?

Alleyrat

I think they do it because there is no way to make silver 100% pure. They just tend to say .999 fine ounce.

Smitty79

I always thought it was for strength. That's what the copper is for in jewelry silver (.925) and coin silver (90%).

cladking

It gets progressively more expensive to refine it further. The "contaminant" wouldn't necessarily be copper though it would hardly be surprising if this tends to make up the bulk of it.

coinnut86

I was wondering if it had something to do with strength as well. I would assume alloys would be stronger than a pure metal

Hobbyist

<< <i>Does anyone know why they put .001 troy oz of copper in them, and not just make them 1 troy oz of silver? >>



They do actually contain 1 troy ounce of silver. But as for why they are not pure silver, it is as cladking posted.

LucyBop

Silver is a soft metal, though it is slightly harder then gold..


copper does increase strength after a proper annealing process...

coinnut86

<< <i>It gets progressively more expensive to refine it further. The "contaminant" wouldn't necessarily be copper though it would hardly be surprising if this tends to make up the bulk of it. >>



I was looking at the COA and it stated .001 troy oz of copper, but it would be rather difficult to tell what the remaining contaminants would be.

Hobbyist

<< <i>I was wondering if it had something to do with strength as well. I would assume alloys would be stronger than a pure metal >>



For circulating coins, I am sure that is the case. But for the non-circulating stuff, I don't think that the additional strenghth is needed.

coinnut86

Thanks everyone

cladking

<< <i>

I was looking at the COA and it stated .001 troy oz of copper, but it would be rather difficult to tell what the remaining contaminants would be. >>



Very interesting.

coinnut86

<< <i>

<< <i>

I was looking at the COA and it stated .001 troy oz of copper, but it would be rather difficult to tell what the remaining contaminants would be. >>



Very interesting. >>



Hehe.. I have all of my coins spread out across my bed and was looking at them all. Not sure why but I decided to read the COA of the ASE and heres what it says:

Content
Silver .999 troy oz. (31.072g)
Copper .001 troy oz. (.031g)

now I have to put them all away so I can go to bed

Hobbyist

So is it .999 ounce of silver and .001 ounce copper or do they contain 1 full ounce of silver plus copper? The COA seems to state the former but their brochure seems states the latter.

http://www.usmint.gov/downloads/mint_programs/am_eagles/AMERSILVREAGLE.pdf

Not a huge difference, in the grand scheme of things, but it would be nice to know or at least have consistency.

Also, it looks like, according to the brochure, that the copper is added for durability to resist scratching and marring. Of course, that might just be marketing talk too.

Conder101

That's not enough copper to give it scratch and maring resistance.

The rason for the copper is probably from the expense of further refining to remove it. The reason it is there in the first place is because much of the silver mined nowadays is as a byproduct of copper mining. The silver is actually recovered as a result of refining the copper so naturally traces of copper remain in the silver.

flaminio

Doesn't Canada do .9999 silver these days?

SlangNRox

I think Canada does something with platinum and electrolysis to get that other 9 on their coins