Multielement analysis of modern and ancient coins using diamond lapping film and laser ablation ICP mass spectrometry

Dianna Talib*, Renli Ma, Cameron W. McLeod, Damon Green

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

14 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

A combination of laser ablation ICP-MS and laser ablation ICP-AES has been utilised for the multielement analysis of coins. The approach involves the use of diamond lapping film for in situ sampling of metallurgical CRMs (for quality control) and coins. Rapid multielement analysis (B, Al, V, Cr, Mn, Ni, Co, Cu, Zr, Nb, Mo, Pb) of transferred steel standards resulted in precision of the order of 10% and detection limits in the range of 0.004-1.23μg/g. The Roman coins (317-378AD) were found to contain a greater range of trace elements at higher concentrations than the modern coins (1984-2000). Relatively high concentrations of As (598-2161μg/g), Ag (201-2215μg/g) and Sb (344-1425μg/g) were detected within the Roman coins. Furthermore, lead isotope ratio (207/206Pb, 208/206Pb) measurements for the ancient coins were performed with precisions between 2-5%.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)156-165
Number of pages10
JournalCanadian Journal of Analytical Sciences and Spectroscopy
Volume49
Issue number3
Publication statusPublished - Jan 2004
Externally publishedYes

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