How can you tell if you have a fake coin or an error coin, (for US currency)?

Question

I recently got a quarter dollar that just did seem right. at first when i got it i realized that it didn't sound like the rest of my change or have the same weight as a usual quarter but looking at it, it didn't seem any different from any other quarter. I was going to give it back to that chaser when i found it but figured that it would be hard to make a fake quarter so maybe the US mint made a error.

Answer 1

Quarters have been counterfeited. I have see quarters made of lead, they were cast. When dropped it makes a thud sound. They weigh more and have a dark appearance. You did not mention the date which is actually kind of important to determine if it could be a mint error. A quarter stamped on a nickel blank while scarce, is not rare though. Having one of the layers of our clad coin missing can happen. What happens most of the time, is some person fooling with the coin, long after it left the mint, for they were bored. A clad Washington quarter weighs 5.67 grams and has a diameter of 24.3 mm with a reeded edge. Hope the above helps.

Answer 2

Archimedes measure the volume of a gold crown by immersing it in water than measuring it's displacement to find it's volume, then weighing it. That way you can tell if it is gold, amixture of gold & someting else or just some other metal. You would have to find the density of gold to work it out but that shouldn't be too hard. I'm not sure that this is the correct forum for discussing this because it uses prechristian knowledge and christians have always been a bit funny about that.

Answer 3

It may be a magician's trick coin. These look enough like real money to fool the audience but have some secret gimmick. The weight and sound usually are the tipoffs.

Answer 4

well...who's dumb enough to waste all that time making a fake quarter? does that answer your question?