# Can I bend gold coins with my bare teeth? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 9, 2014, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-bend-gold-coins-with-my-bare-teeth/683252 "2014-03-09T07:49:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2014, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-bend-gold-coins-with-my-bare-teeth/683252/1 "2014-03-09T07:49:07Z")
In movies they always show people biting gold coins to make sure their real. The idea (I think) is that gold is more flexible than say copper clad in gold and that you can actually bend the coin. So, is this true, or just made up for movies? ---
**Author:** ![dofe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7ba0ec/32.png) [@dofe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dofe)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2014, 7:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-bend-gold-coins-with-my-bare-teeth/683252/2 "2014-03-09T07:52:21Z")
> [@furryman](#): > > In movies they always show people biting gold coins to make sure their real. The idea (I think) is that gold is more flexible than say copper clad in gold and that you can actually bend the coin. So, is this true, or just made up for movies? I’ve bent a 24K gold ring with my fingers, so I don’t doubt that you could bend gold coins with your bare teeth. Pure gold is surprisingly soft. ---
**Author:** ![ThisSpaceForRent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thisspaceforrent/32/345_2.png) [@ThisSpaceForRent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThisSpaceForRent)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2014, 8:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-bend-gold-coins-with-my-bare-teeth/683252/3 "2014-03-09T08:08:10Z")
Sure, go ahead and try. ?Bite hard, please report the findings. ---
**Author:** ![sidecar\_jon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@sidecar\_jon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sidecar_jon)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2014, 8:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-bend-gold-coins-with-my-bare-teeth/683252/4 "2014-03-09T08:13:46Z")
The way it has been explained to me was that gold coin forgery’s would be made of lead, so they were heavy like gold, and biting would dent lead but not gold, also reveling the grey lead under the gold plating… ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2014, 8:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-bend-gold-coins-with-my-bare-teeth/683252/5 "2014-03-09T08:36:25Z")
> [@dofe](#): > > I’ve bent a 24K gold ring with my fingers, so I don’t doubt that you could bend gold coins with your bare teeth. Pure gold is surprisingly soft. My mother had either a 22 or 24K ring that she found a pain because it regularly got knocked out of shape and she worried that she may lose the stone it contained. She had it remade into a more robust ring some years ago but only after a jeweler friend suggested it. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2014, 9:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-bend-gold-coins-with-my-bare-teeth/683252/6 "2014-03-09T09:33:54Z")
> [@furryman](#): > > In movies they always show people biting gold coins to make sure their real. The idea (I think) is that gold is more flexible than say copper clad in gold and that you can actually bend the coin. So, is this true, or just made up for movies? Actually, the idea is that the \*fake \*ones bend, and the real ones don’t. https://www.youtube.com/embed/Pj76xSFNK6c?feature=oembed&wmode=opaque ---
**Author:** ![Sigene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df788c/32.png) [@Sigene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigene)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2014, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-bend-gold-coins-with-my-bare-teeth/683252/7 "2014-03-09T15:20:01Z")
I couldn’t bend or dent one with my teeth when I tried it. I was using a 1oz 0.9999 pure gold Canadian maple leaf. I had to use decently robust tin snips to cut it up. ---
**Author:** ![Hermitian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hermitian/32/470_2.png) [@Hermitian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hermitian)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2014, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-bend-gold-coins-with-my-bare-teeth/683252/8 "2014-03-10T15:15:41Z")
> [@Sigene](#): > > I couldn’t bend or dent one with my teeth when I tried it. I was using a 1oz 0.9999 pure gold Canadian maple leaf. I had to use decently robust tin snips to cut it up. Yea, I always have to use my big tin snips when I cut up my gold coins too…wait, what? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2014, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-bend-gold-coins-with-my-bare-teeth/683252/9 "2014-03-10T15:25:58Z")
> [@Hermitian](#): > > Yea, I always have to use my big tin snips when I cut up my gold coins too…wait, what? 😕 [Real pirates use there big assed knife to cut them up](http://www.thepiratemuseum.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=125:pieces-of-eight&catid=49:plunder&Itemid=202). ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Panda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee7513/32.png) [@Darth\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Panda)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2014, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-bend-gold-coins-with-my-bare-teeth/683252/10 "2014-03-10T15:57:51Z")
> [@Sigene](#): > > I couldn’t bend or dent one with my teeth when I tried it. I was using a 1oz 0.9999 pure gold Canadian maple leaf. I had to use decently robust tin snips to cut it up. Hey Buddy! Defacing the Canadian currency is a bootbale offense. ---
**Author:** ![Sigene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df788c/32.png) [@Sigene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigene)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2014, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-bend-gold-coins-with-my-bare-teeth/683252/11 "2014-03-10T17:21:59Z")
I could go to a scientific supply company and get 0.9999 pure gold (we called it four-nine pure) for about 5 times the market rate. or I could go to the local pawn and coin shop and get the same purity for close to the market rate. We used it to vapor deposit gold metal on surfaces for various analytical tools. Austrian Philharmonic coins work well too. [http://www.usagold.com/gold/coins/philharmonic.html](http://www.usagold.com/gold/coins/philharmonic.html)