I have some kennedy halves (not silver) and some iron clad morgan dollars- I used a little bit of mothers Mag and Aluminum polish - hsnd buffed (not machine) and to the untrained eye they would DEFINITELY pass for being silver..I mean a collector might notice or a coin dealer might notice but for the regular spectator...if I said they were silver...The spectators would have no reason to doubt me..

Honestly, I think coins are so seldom seen anymore that most people wouldn’t know the difference if you polished them or not. A collector or dealer would absolutely know,, but unless you’re doing walk-around at a coin convention, that’s not going to be an issue. I have always preferred silver because of the sound and “feel,” but I seriously wonder if most people these days even know, much less care, that coins used to be minted in silver.

Totally agree.. they do yknow and don’t care, probably never did. It’s only important to the magician for personal reasons as you mentioned.

I remember championing even replica Morgans as even good enough, they just gotta look similar. What’s most important is just doing good coin magic. Do that and that’s what people will remember most, not what coins you used.

I'm not really sure what the debate is here?

Why would one tell the audience the coins being used are silver if they’re not?

Who cares? Certainly not the spectators.

Simon Coronel does spectacular coin magic with poker chips.

You may be referring to the color in which case they certainly are silver.

But as others have said who cares? If you’re in the middle of doing magic and they are worried if the coins are actually silver there are other issues to worry about.

I'm just glads that most of the responses made me smile...which is ALWAYS A GOOD THING...

If you mean color… they are silver.

But they could be chocolate inside..

Well we did just wrap up Hanukkah...

Chocolate coins for Hanukkah. Eating them always gave me a gelty feeling...