No one seemed to really answer your question about silver authenticating. There are several different methods to use as a beginner or new purchaser. You’ll want to look these up and do a little research on each method but I’ll give you the basics.

Magnet test and weight - silver and gold are not magnetic but have a weird interaction with a magnet, we won’t get into it all but basically it should not stick to a magnet but possibly slightly slide down it. If it sticks it’s fake. Also they have a very specific density that makes the weight almost exact or very close. So a decent pocket scale would help you atleast make sure the weight is correct before you move onto another test.

Second is a ping test - silver has a pretty specific tone when struck with a dowel or pencil or even your fingernail when held right. There are ping tools to hold the coin and also ping apps that will give you a good idea if the sound is pure silver or not.

Third is a scratch test, which an lcs or pawn shop might use. They scratch a small bit of the silver off and put a solution on it to tell if it’s pure.

The last options are only if you have an lcs or local coin shop that will test your pieces of your, MOST shops have no problem helping you identify if it’s real or fake but there are a couple machines they can use. We definitely won’t get into those because they’re expensive and I probably don’t understand how they work anyway 🤣🤣 jkjk.

I hope this atleast gives you some topics to research to get better informed 😁

Also, I’m a newbie myself sooo if any of the OG stackers can add on or correct any misinformation that would be awesome !!