Need Info about the AUS 1 Florin, 1940 may be fake?

6 posts
I purchased this coin and it came with a green mark on it which I figured was some gunk/tarnish, but i was able to actually scrape it off and when I did it revealed a different sort of surface underneath. It almost looks like the coin had been plated with some kind of metal ( has that general modern US COIN metal smell) I know this coin was supposed to be sterling. Any thoughts ?

So i dont have a good picture of it, but underneath the green thing I scraped off is where the plating is revealed. Cant tell if it was plating or if it was an acid test that changed the surface there?

It does have a very good ring. Sounds like silver. Just an odd smell for silver (smells like steel/nickel) Definaltey a nicer ring than my 1921 british florin
I have heard that there are fake Oz florins.
I have never heard of the smell test, but there are several good silver tests that we all use.
first get a good gram scale, if the coins weighs less than 11.3 grams it is not silver. get a good caliper and measure it, if it larger than 28.5mm dia or thicker than 2mm it may be fake. copper and nickle are 15% lighter than silver, a forgery will either be lighter or larger or both, compared to a real silver coin.
Next is the ice test. silver will devour an ice cube and the coin will get icy cold instantly.
copper or nickle will not do that.
Jamais l'or n'a perdu la plus petite occasion de se montrer stupide. -Balzac

Probably is a fake, as the coin has the usual greenish tint you find on the base metal silver coins of 50% or less. These were only issued from 1946 in Australia, a 1940 Florin is Sterling Silver and thus should be very pale and silvery in appearance. The silver was alloyed, so will not be "plated".

A while ago, someone showed a fake 1918 Sixpence of Australia, again minted in some Chinese coin mill out of some cheap muck metal - knowing the Chinese probably the most toxic lead possible.

I love coins
Quote: "Mr. Midnight"​I have heard that there are fake Oz florins.
​I have never heard of the smell test, but there are several good silver tests that we all use.
​first get a good gram scale, if the coins weighs less than 11.3 grams it is not silver. get a good caliper and measure it, if it larger than 28.5mm dia or thicker than 2mm it may be fake. copper and nickle are 15% lighter than silver, a forgery will either be lighter or larger or both, compared to a real silver coin.
​Next is the ice test. silver will devour an ice cube and the coin will get icy cold instantly.
​copper or nickle will not do that.

​I didn't know about the ice test, that's handy!
Welcome to Numista!

About the greenish tint, it's possible that may just be PVC residue from the coin having spent some time in a PVC flip. I'd need better pictures of both sides of the whole coin before I can make any sort of judgement one way or another to its authenticity, however.

The "different" surface underneath the gunk you scraped off might just have escaped the aforementioned PVC damage due to said gunk, but again I am not entirely sure I have you right without better photos. And as for the smell, I've never really liked to rely on the smell test for determining silver- I can see what people mean but IMO it's too unreliable.
Hi and welcome

Like CassTaylor has said it would be better if you took photos of the whole coin as we don't have the coins in front of us to determine just from a one side picture that isnt even the whole face. That being said yes it should be sterling if it is real, so 92.5 silver.

However from what i can see of the coin i would say its real, but if a seller show me a picture like this of a coin i wouldn't buy. Design elements but a little worn and 1940 font are all correct. However there are fakes that are silver, just not sterling silver maybe closer to like 65% silver or less, but that they have distinct design flaws. The modern Chinese copies are not going to be in silver and the backing is usually some sort of copper nickle or something close to that base value. Funnily enough that some of the old counterfeited florins are also Chinese or at least made by people who came from China :D.

That Green spot i guess some sort of liquid that may have reacted with the silver and left some gunk, doesnt look to be PVC dmg and that usually appearing on the whole coin with a green tint.

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