Currency

1917 Liberty Silver Half Dollar: 365 ppm Lead + 203 ppm Mercury (899,400 ppm Silver). Not a good fidget for kids.

January 10, 2022December 3, 2023

Silver coin 60-second reading Lead (Pb): 365 +/- 43 ppm Cadmium (C): non-detect Mercury (Hg): 203 +/- 54 ppm Bromine (Br): 19 +/- 11 ppm Chromium (Cr): non-detect Vanadium (V): 794 +/- 522 Copper (Cu): 95,300 +/- 600 ppm Zinc (Zn): 100 +/- 59 ppm Silver (Ag): 899,400 +/- 1,600 ppm Tin (Sn): 2,920 +/-…

Faux 1922 Peace silver dollar with skeleton head: 1,639 ppm Arsenic. Please don’t use collectable coins as fidgets.

July 30, 2020December 3, 2023

Introduction (for those new to this website): Tamara Rubin is a multiple-federal-award-winning independent advocate for consumer goods safety, and a documentary filmmaker. She is also a mother of Lead-poisoned children (her sons were acutely Lead-poisoned in 2005). Since 2009, Tamara has been using XRF testing (a scientific method used by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety…

2018 U.S. “Copper” Penny: 579,100 ppm Zinc & 419,200 ppm Copper. No Lead, No Cadmium, No Mercury, No Arsenic.

April 18, 2019April 19, 2019

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Below is the full set of XRF test results for the 2018 U.S. copper penny pictured here: Details: Metals not detected are not listed Tests are done in “Consumer Goods” mode Testing instrument is a Niton XL3T XRF instrument by ThermoFisher Scientific. Both sides of the penny were tested multiple times to confirm the results….

#AskTamara: This one is for the kids! Q. “Hey Mom! What’s a penny made of?”… XRF test results for a 1976 U.S.A. penny

April 13, 2019July 12, 2023

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Introduction (for those new to this website): Tamara Rubin is a federal-award-winning independent advocate for consumer goods safety and a documentary filmmaker. She is also a mother of Lead-poisoned children, her sons were acutely Lead-poisoned in 2005. Since 2009 Tamara has been using XRF testing (a scientific method used by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission)…