Souvenir Coin

Vintage faux-antique coin from Greece: 542,300 ppm Lead [54%] + 2,144 Cadmium + 2,705 Antimony. Bad news all around.

July 29, 2020June 10, 2023

Faux-Antique Greek Coin The owner of this coin told me she got it at a shop in Greece. She said there was a bowl of them at the shop and the owner of the shop was giving them away to patrons of his shop as a souvenir. Souvenirs like this are especially concerning as the…

Seattle Space Needle collectors token. Tested positive for 1,245 ppm Arsenic using XRF technology.

June 14, 2020December 7, 2023

Seattle Space Needle Collectable Token Arsenic (As): 1,245 +/- 164 ppm Selenium (Se): 11,000 +/- 800 ppm Zinc (Zn): 153,700 +/- 2,400 ppm Copper (Cu): 824,900 +/- 4,200 ppm Bismuth (Bi): 985 +- 168 ppm Chlorine (Cl): 7,018 +/- 3,099 ppm Some additional reading that may be of interest: More coins we have tested and…

Replica “piece of eight” bought at 2019 Oregon Renaissance Faire: 1,497 ppm Antimony-a known carcinogen. NOT A TOY!

August 24, 2019December 7, 2023

When tested with an XRF instrument the copy / replica / “toy” “Pieces of Eight” coin pictured here (an item which was purchased at the Oregon Renaissance Festival / Faire in the summer of 2019) had the following readings: Chromium (Cr): 204 +/- 127 ppm Antimony (Sb): 1,497 +/- 213 ppm Zinc (Zn): 985,300 +/-…

#LeadPhree: 2015 Phish Summer Tour Collectible Coin – Bend, Oregon

July 5, 2018December 7, 2023

When this collectible Phish coin was tested with an XRF instrument it was negative for lead, cadmium, mercury and arsenic. For those curious about what kind of metals are in something like this, here’s the full XRF summary for this item. In general this sort of thing seems like a good choice (in terms of…