Found a 'silver' dime in a parking lot. Paid $8 for a magnet test kit to prove it was fake.

I spotted this shiny dime near a storm drain in Austin and got super excited because it looked old. Cleaned it up and saw it was a 1943 Mercury dime, which should be silver. But something felt off so I bought a cheap magnet test kit online for $8. Sure enough the magnet stuck to it, turns out it's a common Chinese counterfeit made of steel. So I wasted $8 and got nothing but a dumb fake coin for my trouble. Has anyone else gotten tricked by these fake silver coins?

2 comments

2 Comments

brianm271d ago

$8 magnet kit is cheaper than learning that lesson the hard way on a real coin, @juliagonzalez lol.

juliagonzalez1d ago

Man that's brutal but also kind of hilarious. You spent eight bucks to prove you got a fake dime worth maybe five cents max, so technically the test kit is now the most expensive part of the whole deal. I got burned once with a "Morgan silver dollar" from a flea market, paid ten bucks for it, realized later it was just a painted washer from a hardware store. My girlfriend still brings it up anytime we pass a coin stand, says I got scammed by a guy who probably also sells rocks as dinosaur eggs. At least you can use that magnet kit to hold a grocery list on your fridge now, silver lining and all.