• NateNate60@lemmy.world
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    1 month ago

    You can determine density using a scale, string, and some water, but this wouldn’t be reliable enough to determine silver purity beyond 1-1½ significant figures. 950‰-970‰ pure silver would probably be within the margin of error you’d expect for 999‰ pure silver. That silver is basically “contaminated” from a dealer’s perspective because it’s unsellable due to being a strange purity and would have to be refined into 999 silver at a significant cost.

    Dealers don’t do this. A Sigma Pro machine is easier, more reliable, and faster.

    For that reason, if you only had 1 ozt of it (or even 10 ozt), a dealer would maybe generously offer you half or two-thirds of melt value.