My Morgan Dollar is 80% Silver with Germanium and Gallium
dcarr
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I bought this Morgan Dollar (relatively cheap) a few months ago because I suspected that it was a vintage counterfeit (part of the micro-o "family", although this particular coin is not a micro-o). The surface texture ("fabric") of the coin appears to be a little "off". The coin has a proper and pronounced silver "ring" when balanced and tapped on the edge. It rings as well as a genuine 1896-O in similar grade that I have here, although the pitch is a slightly lower note than the genuine coin. The edge reeding does not show any abnormalities. So I believe that it is a die-struck piece and not cast.
I tried matching the die to any of the known VAMs. The date placement does not match any of the known 1896-O vintage counterfeits (VAM-4, VAM-21, VAM-22, VAM-25, VAM-26, VAM-27, or VAM-30). The placement of the "O" mint mark appears to match the reverse die for VAM-22.
On Saturday at a small local show I had my friend test it with his small hand-held XRF device (we did a couple tests to get an average reading). Here are the results:
Ag: 80% (Silver)
Ge: 8% (Germanium)
Cu 6% (Copper)
Ga: 1% (Gallium)
Zn: 1% (Zinc)
various other trace elements: ~4% total
None of the other VAM-listed vintage counterfeits that I have had tested using this exact same device have ever registered any Germanium, Gallium, or Silver less than 90%.
Next time I get a chance I will have it tested using a laboratory-grade XRF device at a major area coin shop.
Comments
Fascinating.
Have you taken a specific gravity of it? I have no idea what the pure metal s.g.'s are for Germanium and Gallium as I have never encountered them, but I can look them up and calculate an expected S.G. for that alloy (subject, or course, to that 4% "whatsit?" factor.)
The 8% Ge seems very unusual indeed!
Interesting - does it glow in the dark??
Assuming that alloy is correct, (and I think you'll agree it is questionable(?))….
It might be useful to do some research on where Germanium is plentiful? Seems unlikely someone would intentionally seek it out for making the coins....but maybe it is a native component of whatever ore they used to get their silver, and whatever minimal processing they used left it there??
Or....Is Germanium used in the manufacture of....anything? That "whatever", might be their raw material source.
If it is an old counterfeit, I bet the crucible that held the molten silver had all sorts of other metals residue from previous melts. IMO. Peace Roy
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I'd put money that the Ge and Ga readings are false positives for Zn. Handheld XRF devices are notorious for such abnormalities especially with valence and covalence bonds very near each other. I recorded a lot of exotic/non-traditional trace elements when I first started XRF-ing counterfeits, only to later switch to better lab-grade equipment and the results became more normalized. The pitting/micro-porosity on the surface would explain the zinc-copper elements more than the Ge, especially if struck.
Nice, interesting find!
Ah, that is a good point there. I was also getting ready to say that the surfaces could be corrupted compared to the deeper metal of the coin....
Well, just Love coins, period.
Nice legwork, @dcarr .
Cool piece.
Argentium silver has germanium. Might be recycled jewelry
I like what Koinicker says. That said, some counterfeits are made at legitimate metals processing plants by dishonest employees using company equipment and materials, sometimes after hours and sometimes on company time. Great way to keep down overhead.
Back circa 1970 Sidney, Ohio had two plants that made aluminum can lids. One day somebody who worked at one of them showed Ed Fleischmann of Coin World, who he knew socially, a Kennedy half made of aluminum.
Ed said “You can’t do that!” And the guy said he just did it to see if he could. Don’t worry!
Then one turned up in the till of a local bar. The Secret Service was not amused. They requested a meeting with the head of both companies, showed them the coin, and said if we find out which one of you made this we are shutting you down.
Germanium cost about $1000/kg in 2016, while silver cost about $500/kg in July 2018.
So using Germanium to reduce Silver content would not make for a cheaper counterfeit at the present time.
It might have been relatively cheaper in the past, though.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germanium
Odd that no lead was found. Even the Mint could't "get the lead out" until 1900.
Something tells me the hand-held XRF is not calibrated correctly.
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Dan, I know it's got some wear but do I see evidence of casting bubbles? Struck coin from cast dies?
bob
This is what I love about this forum. Some very knowledgeable and friendly people willing to help solve a mystery.
Yes and providing an education for the rest of us. Good thread.
Secret Service showed up for half a buck? That is impressive.
That could very well be. That is why I will get a reading from a desktop device and compare to the hand-held readings.
Looking closer at the coin, now I am thinking more that it could be cast. The ring is close to correct, which is unusual for a cast piece. But I can now see a place on the rim where a casting sprue could have been attached.
The weight is close to correct. A genuine 1896-S in similar grade weighs 26.2 grams on my old balance-beam scale. This 1896-O weighs 25.8 grams. So 0.4 grams light.
Didn't they confiscate someone's aluminum penny not too long ago? They have no limits too low.
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It's not that it's "half a buck", it's a counterfeit. It could be the first of millions. Same with a $20 bill. It's not the single 20 they are worried about, it's the rest of the run.
1970.
I wish those same fellas were around today. They’d have a field day on eBay.
My unscientific observation would be that it doesn't look right.
I knew it would happen.
Another common misconception is the 'ring test' differentiating cast vs struck counterfeits. While striking is a form of hardening (cold forging, I believe) the metal to increase pitch, thus producing a sharper 'ring', the metal and rate of cooling the metal is a greater factor here. For instance, there is one variety of a struck contemporary counterfeit CBH made of billon (debased copper-silver alloy) and antimony (or similar - the exact alloy slips my mind right now). Again, both are struck. The billon piece rings nicely, similar to a 90% silver coin, whereas the struck antimony planchet example has nearly no ring when tapped.
Silver is a high-density metal with a close atomic structure thus crystallizing into a more compact bonding. Lead, zinc, and antimony for example have wider atomic bonds and thus do not crystallize as closely (individually).
Rate of cooling the metal is also very important. If you cool the metal too quickly the metal does not have a chance to optimally crystallize and therefore will remain relatively porous. If the metal takes longer to cool (let the heat escape more slowly) the metallic crystals will grow closer together creating little to no porous surface appearance - and this is what you want!
Therefore, it is this metallic crystalline bonding and the parent metal which ultimately determines the pitch of ring, regardless of a cast or struck coin/counterfeit. But, all alloys being equal, a struck piece should always produce an equal or higher pitch ring than a cast counterfeit, but the two can be VERY similar.
Great thread.... the OP coin does have some cast features (as pointed out above) and the rim, below the D in Dollar (last of Dan's pictures) has some strange 'bubbles' (for lack of a better term)....Look forward to the next XRF analysis. Cheers, RickO
First thing I thought of when I opened the thread and saw the pic was a cast piece, the look popped out immediately to me.
Strange to think they dive on counterfeit modern stuff and confiscate experimental/controversial stuff but seemingly overlook all those Chinese fakes/counterfeits.
"A dog breaks your heart only one time and that is when they pass on". Unknown
Germanium has a melting point of 937.4°C, boiling point of 2830°C, specific gravity of 5.323 (25° C)
Gallium has a melting point of 29.78°C, boiling point of 2403°C, specific gravity of 5.904 (29.6°C)
**Perhaps it was made from recycled computer parts ? **
Early semiconductor components were mostly made from germanium.
Gallium is used to dope semiconductors and for producing solid-state devices.
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There's not a lot they can do about them, I think. They are also obsoletes that won't get spent. If they start selling fake Sacs on Alibaba, I guarantee they will get involved.
More likely jewelry. They do use germanium in "argentium silver" jewelry which is basically sterling with a few percent of germanium so it melts differently. If they sourced their silver from silver scrap, they've probably got a mix of finenesses and contaminants. [Or...the XRF is just wrong.
]
As a member posted, a ring test is usually of little use. However, I do use it for many foreign coins. One problem with this test is unless you have been "ringing" coins of the same type for enough time to actually know what they should sound like - you are wasting your time as deceptive fakes ring nicely.
One of my favorite coins to show students is a genuine BU Franklin half that does not ring at all. Drop it on the table and the sound is a "dull thud."
I bought the coin from a student several years ago. He produced the coin in class and told all of us that the Treasury authenticators were ignorant idiots because when he sent this C/F in, they told him it was genuine! Then to make his point he dropped it on the table with a "thud." See, he said? Cast Counterfeit as it does not ring!
When he let me see the coin, I noticed the rim was split half way around the reeded edge. Of course it would not ring.
They used to care. And it worked.
Interesting!
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What an educational thread for me.
Can you imagine the look on the faces if it would have said, 8% Plutonium?