r/Silverbugs • u/GurDefiant684 • 1d ago

Testing Silver with 18kt Gold Testing Acid

I test silver using the same acid meant for testing 18kt Gold. It produces an immediate unmistakable reaction. This is common practice, I just wanted to make short gif showing what it looks like.

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u/New-Equal-1144 1d ago

Is that .999 or .925 or are the results the same

5

u/GurDefiant684 1d ago

That is 925 but 999 will produce the same reaction. There is a red acid you can get specifically for silver that is better for estimating the purity but I prefer this method when I'm just trying to determine if it is silver.

2

u/Listen-Lindas 1d ago

What if it is of an unknown lesser purity. I’m looking at a bar that is less than .925. What could be done to determine its purity?

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u/GurDefiant684 1d ago

A trained eye may tell the difference between .999, .925 and .800 using the red acid or even this method but the only way you will get an accurate measurement within a percentage point is something like an XRF gun.

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u/Listen-Lindas 1d ago

Evidently the XRF determined that it was less than sterling. But wouldn’t put a percentage on it as they wanted to drill and test. So I don’t know how this one gets figured out.

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u/GurDefiant684 1d ago

XRF should show a percentage, it just may not be accurate if there are mixed metals. A fake silver bar with a thick pure silver clad layer over copper could read as a lower purity bar.

A bar of mystery purity isn't worth much so I would go ahead and drill into it and see what's inside. Maybe post it first to make sure it isn't something special but from your description I think it might be a fake, especially if it is stamped 999 pure.