How do you test for silver?

[harvdog42]

I hit the tot lots today with the Cibola for a few hours and came up with these. The Eisenhower coin was quite a surprise. The bangle bracelet appears to be silver but frankly I don't know how to test for it. Does anybody know how to test for silver? The only test I know of is to put it in the ocean for a few weeks and if it turns gray then I know it is silver. But that seems a little inefficient.

Harvdog

 

[GENE EDWARDS]

Go on the net and they have acids in a two bottle kit, one for gold , and one for silver. The silver one, you just put one drop on the silver colored item and if the area turns red it's silver if it stays the same color as the liquid it's not. The gold , put a drop on a gold colored ring if it stays clear it's most likely gold, if it turns black it's junk. It's not fool proff on the gold it better than nothing.There are gold testers out there but they come with a big price. They also have acids to test the karat. 10, 14, 18, 24K . Gene

 

[harvdog42]

I actually have some silver testing acid but I was never able to figure out how to use it. I dropped a drop of the stuff on a .999 pure silver ingot I have and the drop turned red but it left a noticable mark on the ingot. I also dropped a drop on a silver coin that I have and the drop intially turned red but shortly thereafter turned sort of blue color and it also left a noticable mark on the coin. (The coin has no numismatic value anyway)

Since I don't want to leave marks on the items I test I tried a touch stone I use for gold testing. The touch stone I have is black and it is difficult to see any color changes on the stone using the silver testing fluid. So I guess I'm back to square one. Anybody got any ideas?

Harvdog

 

[harvdog42]

I was a forceps born baby so you gotta cut me some slack. My son suggested I use a piece of white ceramic for the touch stone which I did. Now the color red shows up clearly on the particals of silver that remain. If the item is not silver the particles of metal will either turn green or disappear completely. The bangle bracelet is not silver...but now I know.

Harvdog