# Fakes



## goldsilverpro (Apr 2, 2014)

http://www.hunkinsexperiments.com/pages/fakes.htm

I found this on the internet and thought it interesting. It's based on the fact that the thermal conductivity of sterling silver is about 10 to 12 times higher than that of nickel silver (Cu-Ni-Zn), the most common alloy used for silver plated flatware. I don't know about using peas stuck on with butter though. I would think that you could just hold the end of a spoon in each hand and feel the difference. Something like this might also work, if it's fast enough. Amazon has quite a few of these in the same price range.
http://www.miniinthebox.com/digital-infrared-thermometer-with-laser-sight-50-c-380-c-58-f-716-f-_p200934.html

EDIT: I boiled some water, filled a coffee cup, and added 3 different plated spoons and 1 sterling spoon. All were small and about the same size and length. They stuck up above the water about 2". After sitting for about 10-15 seconds, the top end of the sterling spoon felt fairly hot and the others were just barely warm. I measured the top ends of each of the spoons with the tip of my super-duper $100 instant reading Thermapen meat thermometer that I got for Christmas. Two of the plated spoons read about 95F and the other (the thinnest one) about 105F. The sterling one read about 120F. With some thought, I would think this could be done better.

NOTES:
(1) If I repeat this, I'll preheat the cup with boiling water, dump it out, add fresh hot water, and then put the spoons in all at the same time, separated as much as possible. I might even do them one at a time, using fresh boiling water each time, and allow each to sit in the hot water for the same amount of time before measuring the temperature.
(2) I would think this would work best if all the spoons (or forks or whatever) were close to the same thickness, volume, and length. Assuming equal volumes, a sterling spoon would weigh about 1.22 times more than a nickel silver one.


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## necromancer (Apr 2, 2014)

thank you GSP, thats a better price then the $99.95 at the local canadian tire store.

making the buy list.....

one Digital InfraRed Thermometer with Laser Sight
one box of dried peas
one pound of butter, non salted


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## FrugalRefiner (Apr 2, 2014)

I love simple!

Dave


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## goldsilverpro (Apr 2, 2014)

I've been thinking about this. It's just a simple, non-destructive, go-no go thing, with a big spread. Either it is solid alloyed silver or it isn't. If one were to collect some data from testing a lot of different type pieces, both good and bad, of different purities (say, 92.5%, 80%, 50%, etc.), he wouldn't need to use a solid silver object as a standard. Just put one piece in the water, let it sit, measure the temperature, and compare it with your data. A good thing about boiling water is that it provides the same temperature each time, depending on where you live and assuming you use the same water source. Instead of using a cup full of water, it might be better to do it in a small pot on a heater, in order to keep the water boiling throughout the test.

You could also test with nitric in a filed notch, but that is destructive. A good non-destructive test is specific gravity, but that is slow. And, of course, there is the Sterling marking. If it's marked Sterling, it probably is. If it's not marked, it probably isn't Sterling. This doesn't always work, though.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not entirely sold on this. I'm just in the "It's Very Interesting" stage. New things, especially when they work, always perk my interest.


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## 4metals (Apr 2, 2014)

Funny that the comic also has a test for diamonds, ironically the earliest diamond testers were based on a diamonds ability to conduct heat so effectively. Trouble is the pea trick won't work because the pea is likely bigger than the diamond!


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## Lou (Apr 3, 2014)

Eh, take the cartoon with a grain of salt...

thermal conductivity of mercury is 50 times less than sterling, and of course platinum doesn't conduct heat that well either!


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## Anonymous (Apr 3, 2014)

Lou said:


> Eh, take the cartoon with a grain of salt...
> 
> thermal conductivity of mercury is 50 times less than sterling, and of course platinum doesn't conduct heat that well either!




Hehe Lou you took all the fun out of it :lol:


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## Lou (Apr 3, 2014)

I like simple field tests, and perhaps the procedure works--never tried it. Makes sense that it would, presuming that they're of similar geometry, mass, length.

I've found that the easy way to sort a crap ton of sterling is just bending it--German silver is much harder to bend than sterling. That and it's faintly magnetic


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## Anonymous (Apr 3, 2014)

You'll probably think I'm mad but I actually bought a Geiger counter the other day to check over some of the gear we take in.......


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## necromancer (Apr 3, 2014)

it will save you a fortune when sending truck loads out !!

its not funny having 30,000 kg shipped back to you.


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## necromancer (Apr 4, 2014)

GSP just saved me $80.00


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