Anyone willing to share the weight of an HK-340a San Francisco Earthquake & Fire SCD?
jesbroken
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Trying to discover if this is silver plated or not. Weighs 19.8 g.
Jim
When a man who is honestly mistaken hears the truth, he will either quit being mistaken or cease to be honest....Abraham Lincoln
Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it.....Mark Twain
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I see copper showing at the high points
That would then appear to be plated with something, right? Still would like to know the weight, if anyone should have one.
Jim
When a man who is honestly mistaken hears the truth, he will either quit being mistaken or cease to be honest....Abraham Lincoln
Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it.....Mark Twain
Did you try Stacks? They sometimes list the weight
All comments reflect the opinion of the author, even when irrefutably accurate.
Will try Stacks. Thanks jmlanzaf.
Jim
When a man who is honestly mistaken hears the truth, he will either quit being mistaken or cease to be honest....Abraham Lincoln
Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it.....Mark Twain
Probably too cheap a coin for them as none was presented on search. HA had plenty but do not show the weight. Thanks all.
Jim
When a man who is honestly mistaken hears the truth, he will either quit being mistaken or cease to be honest....Abraham Lincoln
Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it.....Mark Twain
Stack's says silver plated.
https://auctions.stacksbowers.com/lots/view/3-SHH6B/1906-san-francisco-earthquake-and-fire-medal-type-i-hk-340a-rarity-6-silver-plated-au-53-ngc
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From a discussion on Jeff Shevlin's site:
I have been working on trying to determine if 340 (silver) and 340a (silver-plated) really exist, or if all 340s are actually silver plated. To start the analysis, 340 and 340a are almost always the clock tower variety. Jeff owns one 340 that is the non-clock tower version as pictured in H&K. I examined that one piece (the only one Jeff has seen) before it was slabbed and it had a specific gravity in the 9.1 or 9.2 range, too high for copper, so I suspect it is something like 40% or 50% silver. I have a silver-plated piece with clear signs of the underlying copper medal. I have a piece slabbed by NGC as 340, the silver version. I broke it out of the slab for further study. I also bought one nearly black medal, clearly silver-plated or silver given the black toning. All three pieces weigh the same (i.e. within a few .1 or .2 grams) and all have specific gravities just below that of pure copper. Dan Carr recently examined the silver piece and found traces of copper showing through on the tops of a few letters. The black piece has patches of copper showing through in the right light. All my pieces are the clock tower variety. I recently had the opportunity to run the three pieces through an analyzer. One should note that the analyzer is set at a few microns depth. The analyzers are used by coin dealers and bullion dealers to evaluate gold and silver items to determine what to pay for them. The results: My 340 was reported to be 98.06% silver. (20.01 gms, 9.01 specific gravity) My 340a with patches of copper showing through on the worn high spots (but dings and scratches on the surface show silver) scanned as 88.44%. (19.93 gms, 8.86 specific gravity) My black 340a scanned as 53.1% silver. (19.16 gms, 8.79 specific gravity) The specific gravity of copper is 8.96. Brass and bronze would come in a little below that depending on the alloy. The specific gravity of silver is 10.5. If a medal were 50% pure copper and 50% pure silver, then its specific gravity would be (.5 x 8.96) + (.5 x 10.5) or 9.73. So, I'm looking for a 340 that weighs something along the lines of 21 or 22 gms before I can conclude that 340 actually exists.
I have silver-plated versions at 20.1 and 19.8 grams, brass versions at 17.6, 17.6, and 16.9 grams, and for completeness an aluminum that tips the scales at 4.3 grams. Gotta love aluminum.
Thanks @nencoin. Very informative. It appears to be the Silver Plated SCD HK-340a. It was sold to me as an HK-340 but long b4 silver climbed, just no weight justification. . I appreciate everyone who replied, as I truly learned some things making it a great day.
Jim
When a man who is honestly mistaken hears the truth, he will either quit being mistaken or cease to be honest....Abraham Lincoln
Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it.....Mark Twain
Thank you @jonathonb. Exactly the information I was seeking. After researching all the auction web sites I could find with historical auction info, I believe I know why they do not list weights of oddities. They are all slabbed and therefore cannot be weighed specifically enough to warrant the effort. That is why all slabbing companies should note the weight b4 slabbing coins/tokens/medals in my opinion. As they are validating the authenticity of the item, the weight should be a standard they all follow for true validity. Again, JMO.
Jim
When a man who is honestly mistaken hears the truth, he will either quit being mistaken or cease to be honest....Abraham Lincoln
Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it.....Mark Twain