Custom brass coin and lead

I have been tasked to have 2 custom coins made up for a company, a challenge coin and a smaller version. After working out the design and specs I found a mint that would work within the budget given. Material wise the best options were zinc or brass. After doing some basic research it seemed that brass was a more durable option. Long story short I didn't realize that some brass had lead. The moldings are done, the samples were made and production was in process when I by chance heard about lead being used in brass. As of now I have had production stopped while I figure out what to do next.

Iv been told that the lead content is 0.1%, which is under the California standard of 0.25%. Being that low of a percentage, it's considered lead-free. From what Iv read, "lead-free" depending on the restrictions, can range from under 4% to 8%. It seems California has higher standards then the rest of the country in that regard.

The smaller coin will have a hole in it for being a potential pendant or just coin itself. So the concern is the lead, is 0.1% something to be worried about? Specially if it's going to be touching the skin via a pendant. From research, drinking water brass pipes can have an higher acceptable levels. Production is half way done and switching to zinc would require a new mold to be created as well as basically throwing out the brass ones already done. It was supposed to be a very simple project and now it's become a potential problem. Thanks for your time.

you should have no concern about lead leaching until the coins start turning green, which can be very quickly against the skin.


did they promise you the zinc was lead free, because it may be in the same range as the brass or even worse


V/r HT1