I have a Harrison balance scale from the early 1800s as below. Today I wanted to see how will preform with an Iranian version of souvenir called the 1 Pahlevi. The Iranian coin has exactly the same gold AGW as the normal sovereign 0.2354, but the purity is a little different. 0.900 instead of 0.916. The difference is around 1.8% I was happy to see the Iranian sovereign failed the test in both dynameter as did not pass through the slot or fit into the pan and also failed the weight test as it is 0.14 gram heavier being 1.8% less pure gold.
To put more simple the main different is between the two coins is the Iranian coin is only 21.6 karat instead of 22K and the scale sensed this tiny different.
Question here. If the sovereign is genuine will the end holding the sovereign tilt downwards some or all of the way? Same with if a coin is either too heavy or too light to be a sovereign what happens?
When the coin is genuine the coins weight lifts up the balance weight and stay in horizontal position or very close to horizontal in case of a worn coin.
Hi all Just to add more infomation on this scale, in the past nearly every shop use to have one. Not because there was alot of fakes. Its because the indians where very smart people, they use to shave a tiny bit off the rims of the sovereigns. You can imagine if you have 1000's of sovereigns this would equate to be alot of gold shavings. Believe it or not, is this fact or fiction . You to be the judge james
I've got one of these scales, still in the original 1800's box. It's a lovely piece, and works beautifully, I've been testing my full sovs for months as an extra test on buying If anyone wants the scales mind, I'm open to good offers, looking around the half sov mark...
I believe it may look very similar to this one [imgz=http://forums.silverstackers.com/uploads/181_img_3876ssps.jpg][/imgz]
You might be right... I was tempted to take it with me and go to Dickenson's Real Deal with it but decided it was worth too much for airline travel! I do have a VERY special piece of film memorabilia I'm just getting valued at the moment which will be available soon mind, lets just call it EXTREMELY valuable if you like Stanley Kubrick... The pikey will reveal all soon...
