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?
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.