Extreme millesimal fineness: why .99999 (five nines) coins?

SpacePete

SpacePete

Well-Known Member
Silver Stacker
I just found out about .99999 (five nines) coins and I am struggling to understand the value of such a high level of purity in a silver bullion coin.

* What is the point currently? I could understand if I was building some sort of ultra-sensitive electronic device like a neutrino detector, but why for a coin?
* I guess it means you get a tiny bit more silver in your coin?
* Will this level of purity become more common? I kind of (stupidly) feel bad now about my low purity Perth Mint .999 silver coins.
* How easy would it be to verify that you really had a .99999 silver coin?
* What about slightly lower purity .9999 silver as used in Maples? Does that make them better value relative to other 1oz coins?

Also, I tried to find even higher purity silver but all I could find was some audiophile speaker wire: "cryo 6-nines purity solid silver monocrystal square wire, continuous Directional Solidification process, sealed in low dissipation Hyflon MFA air tubing, non-magnetic Inconel chromium alloy cable sheath". That sounds like something I'd need when wiring up the Death Star superlaser (which could be relevant to my interests some day) but I'm guessing cryo 6-nines monocrystal silver bullion coins would be out of the question.
 
All 1 oz silver coins from state mints contain 1 oz of pure silver no matter what the purity of silver in them. I think it's right about reputable private mints too.
 
Just part of the sales pitch from someone like RSC "you're buying the finest silver... In the world". No reason for it other than to up the premium and thus henceforth would not become more become popular. Probably cost a good but more to refine to that level too.

Stick with 999 and you'll be fine fine fine.
 
I know several people that prefer to buy maples because of their purity. On this forum though people don't like RCM coins because of milky spots. So the value of 0.9999 coins depends on the individual buyer preferences.
 
There are plenty of industrial uses were extreme purity is necessary, but for coins (I think) it's just something to differentiate it. Certain coins marked .999 could actually be .9999 or .99999, but the number stamped on them means that's the minimum they guarantee.

EDIT: I do have some RSC .999999 coins - they look nice, but I doubt that's got much to do with the silver.
 
kutylin said:
I know several people that prefer to buy maples because of their purity. On this forum though people don't like RCM coins because of milky spots. So the value of 0.9999 coins depends on the individual buyer preferences.
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If Maples are so pure, I wonder why they are prone to milk spots?
 
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they are collectable indeed
 
SilverPete said:
kutylin said:
I know several people that prefer to buy maples because of their purity. On this forum though people don't like RCM coins because of milky spots. So the value of 0.9999 coins depends on the individual buyer preferences.
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If Maples are so pure, I wonder why they are prone to milk spots?
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Nothing to do with the fineness, it's caused by the planchet cleaning and preparation process that leaves residue crap behind and gets baked in.
 
As a part time wannabe audiophile, I can tell by that description about the speaker cable that it would cost more than most other silver products on the planet. was there a price? $1k per meter? $10k per meter?
 
SilverPete said:
Andy28 said:
As a part time wannabe audiophile, I can tell by that description about the speaker cable that it would cost more than most other silver products on the planet. was there a price? $1k per meter? $10k per meter?
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In terms of audiophile equipment, the cables are a bargain at $680 for 2 metres: http://www.cabledyne.com/silver-premier-speaker-cables.html
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:rolleyes:

Audiophiles :lol: :lol: :lol:
Can you really hear the difference between a copper cable & a silver one, it's just an ego thing these days :o
 
cables are contentious issue. good copper wire is completely fine in 99.9(9)% of systems. Perhaps in super silly high end systems, where the speakers are worth as much a house, then you may be able to resolve a difference with silver wire
 
Andy28 said:
cables are contentious issue. good copper wire is completely fine in 99.9(9)% of systems. Perhaps in super silly high end systems, where the speakers are worth as much a house, then you may be able to resolve a difference with silver wire
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:lol:
Can you hear the difference
I had a friend who was the top accoustic in the ccountry & designed some of the top audio systems , including
TAG stuff , and he NEVER even mention silver cable
Im sticking with
Can you hear the difference
 
spannermonkey said:
Audiophiles :lol: :lol: :lol:
Can you really hear the difference between a copper cable & a silver one
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According to a description of another cable brand: "... anything less than the highest purity silver often have an obnoxious tweeter-in-your-face quality, if you have heard any such cables, you will likely be stunned by the pleasure and sonic purity of PSS silver."
 
SilverPete said:
spannermonkey said:
Audiophiles :lol: :lol: :lol:
Can you really hear the difference between a copper cable & a silver one
Click to expand...

According to a description of another cable brand: "... anything less than the highest purity silver often have an obnoxious tweeter-in-your-face quality, if you have heard any such cables, you will likely be stunned by the pleasure and sonic purity of PSS silver."
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Marketing BS ;)
 
The 4 and 5 nines pure is simply marketing to fanatics and those who insist that only .9999 pure or finer is "real" silver are true fanatics in my view.

Afterall, these fanatics have never reasonably answered why .9999 pure silver and not .9999999999999999999 pure or .99 pure silver is "real". In the real world, if and when the hypothetical SHTF scenario is in full effect, no one in their right mind will care if your silver blobs or bullion is .99999999999999 or .99 fine.

In the world today though, if there are people willing to pay for something, there are people willing to make money on selling it to these people.




.
 
@SilverPete

As kutylin mentionned, having a "more pure" coin isn't giving you more gold or silver, as it is the precious metal weight that they are referring to on bullion.

In other words, when the 1 troy oz silver bullion isn't pure, the total weight of the coin is more than 1 troy oz, to compensate for the non-precious metal in there, from Wikipedia:

Since 2013 the silver coins have been produced with a millesimal fineness of .999 (99.9% silver). Mass 31.21 g and Diameter 38.61 mm.
From 1997-2012 the silver coins had a millesimal fineness of 958 (95.8% or Britannia silver). Total mass 32.45g, Diameter 40.00mm
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For reference, 1 troy oz = 31.1034768g.
 
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