Same Coin Different Niton XRF Machine Test Results

[LawrenceChard]

Same Coin Different Niton XRF Machine Test Results

We recently bought this very worn 1907-L gold sovereign in as scrap.

Reverse above, Obverse below:

Staff suspected it was fake, so we tested it:

The gold content shown is too low, but there is an anomaly.

Thee is a significant amount of platinum showing, 12 and 7 parts per thousand respectively. I have seen similar reading before, and suspect it is a glitch with our machine, probably in the algorithm which tries to interpret the raw data. Sometimes a re-test gives a "clean" result, often after a quick recalibration, which we did not perform at the time.

In one sense, it was not important to know whether this coin was fake or genuine, because it was so badly worn, we were only ever going to scrap it, but in another sense, it is usually worthwile trying to learn to distinguish fakes.

I was shown the coin, for my opinion, and I believe it is genuine.

It just so happened that our own Niton machine had been packed up ready to be sent for its (very expensive) annual service, so we had a newer looking loan machine.

I re-tested it, with these results:

You can see that the reported gold sontent is slightly higher, although still a tiny amount short of its expected range.

Our staff wtill wanted my opinion on whether it was fake or genuine.

I still believe it is genuine, but with a coin so worn, it may be almost impossible to be certain, and ultimately not worth investing too much time and effort on.

It did decide that we should invest a little more resource into photographing it, for the educational value.

These photos must be some of the best photos ever taken of such a bad coin!

😎

[Silverlocks]

1 hour ago, LawrenceChard said:

Same Coin Different Niton XRF Machine Test Results

We recently bought this very worn 1907-L gold sovereign in as scrap.

Reverse above, Obverse below:

Staff suspected it was fake, so we tested it:

[ . . . ]

The gold content shown is too low, but there is an anomaly.

Thee is a significant amount of platinum showing, 12 and 7 parts per thousand respectively. I have seen similar reading before, and suspect it is a glitch with our machine, probably in the algorithm which tries to interpret the raw data. Sometimes a re-test gives a "clean" result, often after a quick recalibration, which we did not perform at the time.

 

 

Well, clearly somebody has gotten traces of chocolate on it.

[MonkeysUncle]

3 hours ago, Silverlocks said:

 

Well, clearly somebody has gotten traces of chocolate on it.

I was suspecting it had spent most of it's life hiding in a gravy jug. How many burglars target gravy jugs?

[LawrenceChard]

5 hours ago, Silverlocks said:

 

Well, clearly somebody has gotten traces of chocolate on it.

 

1 hour ago, MonkeysUncle said:

I was suspecting it had spent most of it's life hiding in a gravy jug. How many burglars target gravy jugs?

It has probably been in jewellery, but possibly somebody's "pocket piece"!

😎

Edited September 14, 2022 by LawrenceChard

[James32]

54 minutes ago, LawrenceChard said:

poossibly somebody's "pocket piece"!

Female owner?

[LawrenceChard]

43 minutes ago, James32 said:

Female owner?

Dunno, what's the best way to tell?

BTW Looks like you missed my poossibly typo!

😎

[James32]

Just now, LawrenceChard said:

Dunno, what's the best way to tell?

BTW Looks like you missed my poossibly typo!

😎

Actually I didn't, hence the female question 😅 

[LawrenceChard]

11 minutes ago, James32 said:

Actually I didn't, hence the female question 😅 

Do questions have genders?

Is that permitted in this age of political bollocks correctness?

😎

[MonkeysUncle]

1 minute ago, LawrenceChard said:

Do questions have genders?

Is that permitted in this age of political bollocks correctness?

😎

But can a question be male but identify not as a male question but a female answer?

[LawrenceChard]

3 minutes ago, MonkeysUncle said:

But can a question be male but identify not as a male question but a female answer?

Now you're asking!

😎

[Silverlocks]

14 hours ago, LawrenceChard said:

 

It has probably been in jewellery, but possibly somebody's "pocket piece"!

😎

Can I suggest you might want to start storing your sovereigns and chocolate coins in separate containers?

[LawrenceChard]

4 hours ago, Silverlocks said:

Can I suggest you might want to start storing your sovereigns and chocolate coins in separate containers?

We already do, ever since I chipped a tooth biting into the wrong one years ago!

😎