How do you know if a coin is silver?

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When you go out to a coin show, auction, flea market or a local coin shop, how do you know if the coin you are looking at is silver without having numista open? I know that old coins with high denomination were most often made from silver.
It's quite simple to differentiate silver than nickel or anything else.
I don't know why.
You can try the famous ice cube testing as silver has a pretty high thermal conductivity compared to other metals. When putting an ice cube on silver coin, the ice should start to melt quickly: here is your silver. <:D

As I guess you're not having ice cubes in your pockets when going to coin shows ;), I'd suggest the basic testing with a magnet: silver is not magnetic. Quite simple to have a small magnet in your pocket!
It does't mean the coin you're testing is 100% pure silver but at least you can drop magnetic metals like iron and nickel (then modern counterfeits made with ferroalloys, specifically for US Morgan dollars and equivalents ...), or alloy containing those metals. Aluminum is not magnetic neither (at least theoretically, or except under some very pretty specific conditions) and is way lighter than silver.
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I find that silver has its own look about it, even if both coins are proof-finish. But knowing how much silver is in a coin is the real trick I think.

I think that part is just asking a lot of questions, doing a lot of reading, and basically widening your knowledge base.
It takes a lot of studying and memorizing. I find Brazilian coins from the 19th century to be the most confusing. Some are copper-nickel, so they look like silver, they're non-magnetic, they're relatively old, they're relatively high denomination, and they resemble other coins which are silver. Example: https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces3880.html

Additionally, it's not sufficient just to know if a coin is silver, you have to know content as well. The British major coins up to about 1919 were Sterling (92.5% silver) while the later coins were only 50% silver.
Get to know when countries stopped producing silver coins. Fer example, New Zealand stopped making silver coins in 1946 so anything minted after that is not going to be silver. All pre-decimal Australian coins are silver as well as the round 50c coin made in 1966.

Other than that. If the coin is a decent size you can try the ping test
A modern way of making the ping test is to use mobile phone and an application, for example advanced spectrum. This app gives you resonance frequency of your coin. You just need to start the app and tap your coin. Silver coins should have a frequency much lower than 10.000 (usually 6.000-7.000, but it depends on the silver content). Silver coins has the lowest resonance frequency and the difference between silver and for example nickel or iron is huge. I have found this app very reliable way of testing especially silver coins. 2 euro coin have a frequency of about 10.200 Hz while 20 euro cent coin has a frequency of about 13.600 Hz.
Quote: "Ollisaarinen"​A modern way of making the ping test is to use mobile phone and an application, for example advanced spectrum. This app gives you resonance frequency of your coin. You just need to start the app and tap your coin. Silver coins should have a frequency much lower than 10.000 (usually 6.000-7.000, but it depends on the silver content). Silver coins has the lowest resonance frequency and the difference between silver and for example nickel or iron is huge. I have found this app very reliable way of testing especially silver coins. 2 euro coin have a frequency of about 10.200 Hz while 20 euro cent coin has a frequency of about 13.600 Hz.
​I'll be downloading it now. Never thought such apps exist.
I can't find the app you named.
I have android phone. From shop I found it as spectrum analyzer, but I use Advanced spectrum analyzer.
Got it, thanks

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