Along with gold, silver is one of the top precious metals used to produce coins-including American Eagle Silver Coins. But buying the right coins requires knowing how. Here are some helpful tips for finding genuine American Eagle Silver Coins:
1. Look at the coin
The casual eye will have difficulty distinguishing real and copycat American Eagle. So know what to look for! That will allow you to determine if a coin is a fake or the real deal. It all starts with the silver itself. Many people know intuitively when a supposed American Eagle Silver Coin doesn't "look right." But that's not enough. Sometimes manufacturers use a cheap alloy to produce these copycats. This causes the coins to lack the shimmer that silver creates. So if a particular coin lacks that "bling," then warning lights should go off in your head.
However, sometimes coin manufacturers also produce silver-plated coins. Such coins contain genuine silver on their surfaces, so spotting them as fakes is more challenging.
You should also use a magnifying glass to examine the surface of the coin. Each genuine American Eagle will include certain distinguishing marks. If a coin lacks any of those marks, then avoid purchasing it.
2. Weigh the coin
Before purchasing a particular American Eagles, make sure to weigh it. And before doing that, learn the precise weight of an authentic coin. Various shortcuts in the manufacturing of fake coins can influence their weight. Sometimes they use metal alloys that weigh less than real silver does. Another method is to plate a coin with silver. If genuine silver isn't used to produce the entire coin, then its weight will be significantly less than the weight of those with genuine silver.
At first, the weight of an Eagle may seem like a minor detail. But in fact, it's quite important. The manufacturing of commemorative coins is an extremely meticulous process. So various details are crucial in verifying that a particular coin is indeed silver. That not only includes the appearance of the coin, but also measurements including its weight. So before you start shopping for these coins, learn the exact weight that they should have.
3. Listen to the coin
Before buying a commemorative coin, it seems natural that you'd look at it and touch it. But how about listening to it? Yes, it's a test that you should certainly do before buying it. That's because coins will create a certain "ring" when one uses a piece of metal (such as another coin), to tap them. Different types of metals, including silver create certain pitches when you do this test. That includes silver coins. Make sure that you use extreme caution when performing this test, so the coin doesn't become damaged in the process.
Before purchasing an American Eagle, you should take the right steps to ensure that you're buying a genuine coin. These above tips will help to verify that they're buying the real deal-instead of a cheap imposter.
By Tom Warner
Tom runs CoinCollecting-Values.com where you can learn more about American Eagle Silver Coins.
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