Aluminium Coins [Risolto]

Hi there,

I just purchased the following coin from a highly rated seller on eBay:

½ Million Mark Hamburg [Freie und Hansestadt] - https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces16195.html

I knew that the coin was made from Aluminium as it was emergency currency due to inflation, however when I opened the package up the coin feels almost plastic, similar to how fake coins in kids playsets would feel. It is also very, very light.

So my question is, is the coin fake? Or am I just panicking and this is how aluminium coins feel?

Any help is appreciated for a new collector :)

Hello,

Welcome to our site!

Aluminium is indeed a very light metal... so I am not 100% sure what you mean? You might want to post some pictures of your coin for better help.

Hi there,

I'm glad to hear that aluminium is very light even when used in coinage.

I've attached two images of the coin in question. It looks up to scratch, it just worried me when I picked it up and it was very light and didn't feel particularly metallic.

It certainly does look alright.... and aluminium coins do tend to be very light anyway, so I wouldn't worry about it. It doesn't seem like a valuable enough coin for people to fake, anyway.

Welcome to Numista.

Unfortunately, there is no weight for this coin in our catalogue, nor in Funck. I don't have the exact coin but your coin has a diameter of 28 mm and I have another aluminium notgeld coin from Hamburg with a comparable diameter of 26.9 mm. That one weighs 1,7 g so your coin is probably a little bit heavier. So no need for panicking, these are just very light coins.

HI. Your explanation of this coin is exactly as it should be, aluminium is a soft and light metal easy bent and scratched, there are plenty of ww2 era coins you could buy cheap that are aluminium to compare, i have several french if you would like one for comparison to alley your fears

Yeah, aluminium coins are light. Some of the French Pacific 5 franc coins are the size of half crowns and they barely feel like they're there at all.

Very simple to identity your coin is plastic or metal, just make a simple battery conection with bulb and put one end with the coin if its metal current will pass if plastic it will not or open your TV remote place the coin in between battery and spring connector if the remote works the current is passing through the coin -metal.

Thank you for all of the replies, I never expected this much of a response!

My mind has been put at ease.

Also never even thought to test if it were metal by using it to complete a circuit!