Narrow Results

The analysis of some of the Indian silver coins during British rule were analysed by Energy Dispersive X-Ray Fluorescence Technique. Eight elements namely Cr, Fe, Ni, Cu, Zn, As, Ag and Pb were estimated in this study which also seems to indicate the fragmentation as well as the impoverishment of the power for the regimes that had produced the studied coins. While Cu and Ag were present as major elements, other elements were found to be present in minor concentration.

In this work, external PIXE was applied for the analysis of ancient silver and bronze coins. Turkish and Romanian silver coins, Roman and Byzantine bronze coins were investigated using a 3 MeV proton beam. To evaluate the in-depth distribution of major and minor elements (Cu, Ag, Au, Pb for silver matrix and Cu, Zn, Ag, Sn, Pb for copper matrix), the coins were polished using silicon carbide abrasives. In order to test the homogeneity of the coins, measurements were carried out at three different impact points. Each position of the samples was carefully controlled in order to avoid differences in geometrical factors from one analysis to another. All the analyses were performed on flat external and bright regions so as to exclude the irradiation of possible inclusions or deposits. The calculations of the elemental concentrations in the coins were made by relative to reference standard alloys (Ag-Cu, Cu-Sn, Sn-Pb).