In principle I agree with Ag 2012, and often use the acid test with the precautions described by him.
I must say that the liquid that I use, is not as smart as the one described by AG2012 (and I would be very interested to know the brand): It is very difficult to distinguish the purity from the color that you get with my reagent, also there is no reaction with nickel and tin.


But the reason I tackled the tricky test of gravity, comes from the fact that I found an old Italian ladle that has a hallmark very interesting, not mentioned in the books.
The laboratory can not perform the x-ray test due to the size of the ladle, so I decided groped the method of gravity test.
The results I got testing ladles with purity guaranteed by hallmarks, were always lower than expected, also much lower.
I then tried to make the test with ingots of pure silver, to check my measurement system, and I came across a paradox.
Two of the bars tested gave results consistent with weighing errors (specific weights around 10.5) but an ingot of Metalli Preziosi Spa of Paderno Dugnano, gave a truly absurd result: a specific gravity of 8.75 g / cc.


I thought I made a measurement error, so I repeated the test with three different weighing scales, always getting the same result. Anyhow, the ingot of 250 grams displace a volume of 28.6 cc of water, against a displaced volume expected to be about 23.8 cc; there is a difference of 4,8 cc that you can approximately verify measuring the ingot with the gauge : 1,24 X 3,71 X 6,3 = 28,98.
It is impossible to make a so great measurement error.
The Metalli Preziosi Spa was closed for failure many years ago, so I could not ask for information directly from the manufacturer.
I then assumed that the ingot was fake, just silver plated, but filing deeply a corner, the test with the acid, gives the red reaction.


I assumed that inside there was a core of another metal, coated with a discrete thickness of silver, so I sawed in two the ingot, which turned out to be homogeneous, silvery white, and gives an intense red reaction on the whole internal surface, and also the reaction with nitric acid is identical to that you get with the ingots of silver 999.


I also repeated the density test on the two pieces obtained, which obviously are not identical, and got still a density of approximately 8.7 g / cc, which excludes the possibility of air bubbles.
At this point I don’t know what to think, on the one hand the test with the acid ensures that it is silver, the other side the gravity test excludes that it is silver.
As soon as possible I will submit the ingot at the x-ray test and post the result.
Amena