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Q&As since 1989




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Is there a difference in appearance of silvers mined in different parts of the world?

I was given for Xmas 1 US made American eagles 1 oz of pure .9999 silver I recently bought 1 coin made by a bullion merchant in London stamped 1 OZ of pure .9999 silver while the American coins look very much like I thought silver should look i.e., not shiny slightly dull with a beautiful deep white almost like white gold colour the ones I bought are very shiny more like nickel or chromium plated is this due to silver been different depending where its been mined, is it through polishing or is one silver more PURE than the other

I tried to buy a small amount of acid to test the silver but its Not available to the general public this I understand is due to safety reasons

many Thanks all
Takis

Takis Sozou
Hobbyist - Greater London UK
February 22, 2011

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I bet that it is 3 nines and not 4 nines.
It is the polish that makes it shiny as well as it has been kept away from the air which will form an oxide which is dull.
Weigh the shiny one on a very accurate balance. I suspect that it will be a very tiny bit less than advertised because of the polish.

James Watts
- Navarre, Florida
February 23, 2011

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The difference in appearance is merely due to the surface finishing/polishing. .9999 fine Ag is pretty much the same the world over; the only difference would be found in the .01% impurity (about 100 parts per million).

James Totter, CEF
- Tallahassee, Florida
First of two simultaneous responses -- February 24, 2011

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Silver is one of those funny metals. Pure silver will not corrode or tarnish in pure air or water and that's why a lot of jewelry is advertised as fine silver or tarnish proof silver. Its not really tarnish proof. Silver, even in its purest form can be attacked by sulfur, ozone and I believe a few other things. But these things are in relatively low percentages in our environment. If coins are well stuck they can come out as shiny and smooth as a mirror. But given a few years they will eventually gray and begin to rainbow. This rainbow tarnish is often desired on certain fine silver objects like clock faces. I saw a guy fake a rainbow on a plaque once. He placed the sliver plaque in a fish tank and lit a box of old fashioned matches in the corner and quickly covered the tank. In a week the thing looked 200 years old.

Rod Henrickson
gunsmith - Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Second of two simultaneous responses -- February 25, 2011