Silver(?) Chinese zodiac ingot

Hi all. Found this recently and cant find the mark anywhere. Im pretty sure its silver,its pretty heavy.Its 4 inches long,2 wide,and the detail is wonderful. Any input is always appreciated.

 

Monkey face...

 

I don't know about silver content but there are quite a few on Ebay. It looks like they're selling under $10.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Old-Chinese...762425?hash=item41c721e879:g:ka8AAOSwsXFZJeEy

 

If it is "Tibetan silver" be careful - as TS contains hardly any IF any silver at all. Made from a copper nickle alloy with up to 60% lead giving it it's silver color and feel.
These are sold in 12 piece sets of each one having a specific zodiac sign

 

Wow,thanks ! Its okay,I only paid $5. I wish Id have seen those before i spent so long staring at chinese silver marks ! So I gather some can be silver,though most apparently arent ?

 

Some of the very early ones are silver but they are far and few between. These cheapos have flooded the market.

 

Update.... I took this thing in to a shop that can scan for metal content (anyone ever heard of that ?!?) and it turned out to be,GASP!, solid silver ! That never happens for me,so I was thrilled. They bought it for $75 too! I really wasnt going to sell it but thought,what the hell !

 

Wow. You must have been stunned!

 

Totally ! Its not often my finds turn out to be a treasure ! That scanner thing they used was amazing,has anyone ever heard of such a thing?

 

I've been hearing a radio ad that states a particular coin shop has a brand new machine that can tell real from fake............wonder if it's the same machine.

I'm in MA....

BTW......congrats on your find!!

 

I have heard of those scanners. I forget their precise name, but basically they fire a laser at the metal. By measuring the reflections, they can calculate the percentage of each metal inside whatever it is.

Congratulations on your find! Personally I would've kept it, but to each their own!

 

The XRF analyzer (x-ray fluorescence?) device is latest one I've used (borrowed it.). Earlier one used electric spark and wasn't nearly as accurate. I'm ignorant of the laser device mentioned.

 

I was thinking of the XRF analyser, S.A. Only I forgot the actual name of it at the time of writing.

 

I wish I'd seen this thread before.
It is an antique Chinese scroll weight, to keep scrolls flat when reading them.
The small mark stamped on the back is the Zu Yin mark for a high silver content, higher than sterling.
They make copies, but the marks on those are very crisp.

 

Do NOT make me hate myself ! LOL ! I guess I have a new entry for the one that got away thread !

 

I don't know anything about it, but a brief Google search references XRF (X-Ray Flourescence) machines.

https://www.oxford-instruments.com/...l-analysis/pages/xrf-analyzer/precious-metals

 

You didn't have to take more pics., list it on ebay, ship it, pay ebay and paypal fees, worry about getting scammed and you made $70.00 profit, which is about $60.00 more than if you had listed it. I say you did really good!

 

Thank you for that ! I just REALLY wish Id have known what it was before selling it,now Im glad I didnt buy that enamel /silver pot he had,the bastard !

 

There is a cheaper (than X-ref) method of determining if something is solid silver. It's called a "precious metal verifier" and it measures the conductance of the material down to a depth of several millimeters. If you are buying a lot of gold and silver in the field it could be worth the $1400 or so. Being a tech I was tempted to build a custom one but it was too much engineering effort for so little return as I'm not into the silver/gold game. You can find some more info here ...
http://www.sigmametalytics.com/
https://www.silverbullion.com.sg/Articles/Detail/A-new-addition-to-testing---Electrical-Conduc/960

Cheers
Stephen

 

You've really got to be skeptical regarding the "how to" metal testing articles on the web. The conductivity one linked above probably wasn't written by a scientist who understood the topic, but by an advertising copywriter, based on my experience with other similar issues.

Here's an example pulled from "silver dot com" site. If you follow the written steps and cartoon pictures, unless I misread something, the second weight number you get will be zero, because that site's instructions are either just wrong or very-poorly written. If you have experience determining specific gravity, read carefully through their four steps and see if you agree.