LawrenceChard

Yes, so I read. It seems like they have passed that mantle on to the RM, so in another 10 years, we might follow!

Most toning or tarnishing on silver is caused by sulphides or other chemical in the atmosphere, although moisture is also required, generally in the form of humidity. Most chemical reactions also occure more readily and rapidly at higher temperatures. We could blame it on pullution and global warming. Milk spotting does seem to be connected to production, almost certainly some chemicals in the processing of blanks or striking, and it's my view that it is not directly related to atmospheric polution. The RCM story would tend to confirm this view.

I had never heard the term "milk spot" until the last year or two. I think I first became aware of it on TSF, where there seem be be lots of discussions and complaints about milk spots, mainly about British Royal Mint silver coins including some high premium proof coins, and also bullion coins like Britannias. This composite images shows milk spotting on a 2021 UK silver proof Queens's Beasts Black Bull of Clarence coin, one of 9 coins from a 10 coin Royal Mint set to feature this production defect. Of course, I have seen white spots on silver coins before, but had never called them milk spots, or heard anyone else call them that, until quite recently as I just mentioned. I can call to mind seeing a slight grey blue bloom on some silver proof crowns from 1980 and 1981. In the past, we have tried silver dipping a few coins, but with very poor results. I suspect that this bloom is caused by the same or a similar production problem. A quick search using Google will find many pages discussing the problem, but none which states its cause, although a few of the sites including YouTube videos seem to claim to explain the phenomenon and its cause, but fail to actually do so. A number of these sites mention that it might be caused by solvents or detergents used to clean the planchets (blanks). Some suggest PVC. Although PVC can and does cause some tarnishing, corrosion, or discoloration, I have never noticed it causing milk spots, so I think we can discount the PVC theory. My own thoughts were that it might be caused by oils or other lubricants, affecting either the blanks or the actual coins during the striking process. The Royal Canadian Mint is to be commended because, according to its website, it carried out research over about 4 years, and in 2018 introduced something called MintShield, which reduces , slows down, or helps to prevent milk spotting. It proudly states that it now incorporates MintShield into its silver bullion maples, and other silver coins. However... ... Disappointingly, the RCM fails to state clearly what causes the problem, what MintShield is or how exactly it works, stating it is a secret process. While I can understand it protecting its investment in research to develop the process, I feel I should deduct points for choosing to withhold the basic facts, namely what is milk spotting, and what causes it. As recently as yesterday, I asked our main Perth Mint contact what Perth Mint knew, as I cannot remember seeing it on their silver coins, although I feel sure somebody will have done. I received the following very prompt reply: Such spots are caused regularly by some small pollutions at the production process. TPM has made large efforts by cleaning the factory to prevent such spots. I will check if there is any further “official” statement available about that theme from TPM. Obviously, this does not explain everything we all want to know, but at least it is more than I have heard from any other mint, apart from the RCM as mentioned above. If I receive any further information, I will post it here.

We aim for Portoroz in Slovenia, also Istria, but then visit Croatia. The Roman arena in Pula is impressive. Alll the ice cream in both counries is good, I think they all copied the Italians. If you Google Laguna in Vrsar, you will find a good video of a phallic ice cream, entertainment is thrown in free with most ice creams.

Of course I knew what he meant, just sharing a little fun.

Actually, no, my Hans instead of Han was more of a typo, or fingers and brain not in sync. ☺️

Did you see who the domain name is registered by?

Mia spoke very highly of you, but you never know, maybe she is just a gold digger after your stash. I always prefer the real thing, and don't watch much TV either. It sounds like you watch more films than I do, although I have heard of Hans and Jabba. Although we have not yet been to Zagreb, we have visited Croatia a few times, once driving down the coast to Split. Our favourite coffee and ice cream shop is Laguna in Vrsar.

Is that a tufted Wilton? 🙂

What happened to Mark O'Byrne?

As it's ebay, this is what you might get: 🙂

New Metalor Kilo Silver Bars We recently bought a quantity of "new" Metalor kilo silver bars from a well-known European dealer, instead of direct from Metalor, and these are some examples of what we received: As you may imagine, we are currently in discussion with them.

Why would you want to have them graded? Enjoy them for their history and beauty. After all, if you met Mia Pojatina, would you prefer her to be sealed up in a plastic case, or just as she is? To confirm the coins' ID, you could try taking them into a museum in Zagreb or elsewhere.

The normal presumption would be a penny, as halfpennies were not minted as frequently, or in such quantity. Also the coin on the linked Numista page clearly reads ED..., not HENRI...

No misunderstanding on my part, but I think wilspeak then saw my "alarm bells" comment out of context. As regards names, be careful if dealing with the Edinbugh Mint, for example https://www.nominet.uk/whois/?query=edinburghmint.co.uk&cc-num=#whois-results 🙂

The last time I spoke to them was with someone called Gary.

I also have not heard anything negative about New Zealand Mint, other than the fact they chose a company name which is slightly misleading. I even included a link to a page on one of our older, heritage, websites, with one of their products, the Pacific Sovereign. It was Arcadian who mentioned alarm bells, and as you can see, I posted that this was overkill (in other words, nothing to worry about). "flashy city-centre offices" can also serve as a caution flag, because many small coin dealers or marketing companies advertise as being in prestigious addresses, which often turn out to be "accomodation" addresses. In the case of NZM, I do not think this is anything to worry about, but I do believe people should be aware that they are not a mint, and not owned by the New Zealand government. It reminds of of the misleadingly named "The London Mint Office", which is not a mint, not in London, but their name fools most people into thinking they are The Royal Mint. They (LMO) are owned by Samlerhuset Group, who own many subsidiaries, and are infamous for their less than transparent advertising, and less than perfect ethical standards.

Of course, there is no such thing as white gold, just alloys of gold which are done as a cheap imitation of platinum, and usually has to be rhodium plated. This is an article I wrote in about 1998/9: https://24carat.co.uk/frame.php?url=whatiswhitegold.html You might enjoy the story I told at the end of the page. 🙂

The word "about" is important. I have done considerable research on the alloy content of British gold sovereigns, and also other coins including other precious metals, and base metals. This includes a few hundred gold sovereigns. We published a brief glimpse into this here: https://www.chards.co.uk/blog/analysis-of-alloy-content-of-gold-sovereigns/180 Although we have limited the results table to a small selection (14) sovereigns dating from 1817 to 2021. This sample size is too small to be considered as definitive or reliable. It dies not include the information I gave in this thread, that a typical silver content is about 3ppt. In addition, I have not yet tested a sufficient number of QEII sovereigns to enable me to draw absolute conclusions. As you can see from the table, two of the QEII sovereigns showed as having 1ppt of silver. I intend to carry out extensive further research into alloy contents of British gold coins, sovereign in particular, but this is a time consuming process, and one which we need to automate to be able to do it efficiently. The automation would help in recording, storing, analysing, retrieving, and publishing the results. I am aware that many others, including dealers, will have tested for the gold content of sovereign, this is mainly in an attempt to detect counterfeits. While XRF testing has a place in this, it is quite limited, and will always fail to detect fake sovereigns which happen to have the correct gold content. Our testing is not just aimed at checking and recording the gold content, but also in ascertaining the proportion of other metals present. I can't really help you much with the 1980, apart from suggesting you look at the small sample results we published, and my comments above.

We came across this interesting "coin" in a collection. At first glance, it appears to be an octagonal Indian coin of George V, but a closer look changes the first impression into fake, replica, imitation adn other similar thoughts. The portrait engraving is very crude, and I know of no octagonal Indian coins of George V. I guess it is merely a tourist souvenir piece of junk made by some Indian jeweller or manufacturer, or possibly to sell to the unaware of a genuine coin. The reverse states: 10 Grams Fine Silver 999 BT I Niton XRF tested it, and the stated purity appears to be optimistic to put it politely: So it appears to be about 990 silver, with about 1% copper, and 0.1% cadmium. I didn't actually check its weight! A piece of numismatic junk, but interesting, and it makes a change from Chinese fakes and imitations.

Most hammered silver coins like this are easy to identify if you have seen lots of them before, but otherwise require some hard work and diligence. Try reading the lettering on when where applicable, so the top left coin in the bottom photo looks like it says henri... which should give you a clue as to where to start. I suggest getting a clean sheet of paper and writing down what you can see, leaving spaces or underscores, then write any alternative interpretations on lines above or below your strarting line. Also rotate the coins as you go. Try to work out which is the top and bottom of each side of each coin. Photograph each separately, and don't forget to crop them. Rotating the photos is actually better than rotating the coins, as you can effectively use huge magnification. If and when you manage to get some of the lettering or inscription, try using Google, it might be much quicker than the old-fashioned method of poring through many catalogues. This all require some effort and dedication, but when you manage to identify each one, you should quite rightly feel a sense of achievement. You will also have gained knowledge and skills which will stay with you. This answer might not be what you were hoping to hear, but it should be of the greatest benefit long term. In case it is of any interest, it is what I have had to do over many years, partly because there has often been nobody handy to ask, but also out of a sense of pride. I will still ask when I get stuck. 🙂

Ages ago, I asked Doug (our on-call flasher) to create a visualisation of a Maid Marian coin. This is what he came up with: i think it could be more popular then the actual RM design. 🙂

I wasn't asking because I wanted information. For that I would have Googled it in half the time. I asked because I wanted to draw the OP's attention to their status. See my post from 3 hours before yours: 🙂

Is that in Tesco, like Brett Richardson?

Another alternative is to hand the mugger £5000 in actual pennies, then either call the police, or wait for him to die of a heart attack, while he hauls off 1.78 tonnes of copper plated steel. If the mugger is reluctant to take them, simply tell him they are Royal Mint half sovereigns, while keeping a straight face. 🙂