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How To Test For Fake Gold And Silver
Many precious metals investors like the idea of physical bullion because, unlike paper money, it is difficult to counterfeit. That said, when there is a will, there is a way. In recent years, there have been extremely concerning cases of gold counterfeit, and investors that are not fully prepared can get duped. That’s why we worked with our friends at Silver.com to put together this handy infographic list of ways to test for fake gold or silver.
Courtesy of: Visual Capitalist
Some pointers that we think are particularly important:
- Always buy from a reputable merchant. If you buy directly from something like Craigslist or Ebay, there are no guarantees that your product is authentic.
- Mints are starting to fight back as well – some newer products have additional security features to prevent counterfeiting.
- Know and understand how the different tests for fake bullion work, and use them to verify that your gold or silver is real.
Here’s also a video version:
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Ultrasonic thickness gauges can't be spoofed if you're dealing with known sizes (measure the coin or bar or look it up for common coins).
It's the one-and-done approach to confirming authentic solid gold/silver.
I normally check to see if there's chocolate under the gold wrapper.
Win win either way.
Peer to peer currencies are immue to fakes.
...and intrinsic value.
Who the hell would want Gold???? I'm all about stacking USD! I mean...Yellen's gonna raise rates and the economy is on fire! Unemployment will be negative next year.
do I even need to /sarc?
After the recent finding of a fake American Gold Eagle http://www.goldcoinbalance.com/http:/www.goldcoinbalance.com/fake-tungsten-gold-coins that fooled the Fisch-style Gold Coin Balance, I decided it was time to check my stash.
I got one of these:
http://www.sigmametalytics.com/
It really is as quick and simple as advertised. A little pricey up-front, but now I sleep well at night.
Best Investment I've made (next to my stash; and the scuba gear to retrieve it from the bottom of the lake...)
Ultimate test for that gold bar is just melt the damned thing. All metals have unique melting points.
http://www.mellencompany.com/Furnaces/goldMeltingFurnaces.html
Then you can cast in letters that spell. FUCK THE FED
How many thousands of years has it been since humans could effectively and reliably test gold and silver? The same people who didn't know the Earth was round, or that the Earth revolved around the sun or of the existence of microscopic pathogens could verify without doubt that PMs were genuine. Presenting the issue as a difficult conundrum doesn't pass the smell test.
Fake gold? More like fake "information".
Seems like anti-PM bullshit wrapped in a superficial layer of good graphics and partially correct information, IMHO.
-The ice cube test?
-Graphic of a paint brush going over base metal bars?
-Don't buy from individuals?
-Insist on "safety features" (implying they are required on an ELEMENT with singularly unique chemical and physical properties that have been know for thousands and thousands of years?)
-Only buy new production (with "safety features" in the NSA age over the internet)?
Stinks like a alley dumpster behind a restaurant on a hot summer day.
Well, USD are far better insulating material than PMs. That is known.
all i know is....... i'm waiting in line for an iPhone 6......... thats real value.
Except for the fact that there are copious amounts of equally identicle schemed alt coins, as to make the lot of them as numerous as grains of sand, thereby rendering their scarsity to non existant. Ergo, exceedingly low real value.
Yeah, unless you pay $1,400 for a giant Hershey bar. ;>
Sarc here to a degree, but the Hershey bar will have more value than the fiat eventually.
Me too. I wonder if two half sarcs equal a full sarc?
(rhetorical)
Is chocolate worth more than silver yet?
Chocolate may easily be worth more than silver to me. Winter is coming and I may be stuck in the snow. I can not eat silver. I reckon there will be other folks like me.
If there are other folks, I'd eat them and keep the silver. Since most Americans are drugged to the hilt, you get a free buzz to tide you over until AAA arrives.
But gold as currency is passe right? If people go out of their way to make fake gold there's a reason. They want to keep the gold and give away the dollars.
I find so much lost in boating accidents but it dosent pays for my scuba diving hobby.
Buy small gold and large silver. It works.
This article is BS. If you acid test your silver and it turns the acid green you have a big big problem
You don't say.
It depends on the acid and what you are testing. I believe it's 14k gold acid that will turn blue with pure silver, white with sterling(approx .92 pure). Also, with gold you have to be aware of the composition of the coin you are testing. Things like eagles or krugs, which are something like .925 pure, are going to give you different colors when tested than something like a maple, which is .999 pure. The copper diluting the gold in any non .999 coin could confuse some first timers, making them think the coin is fake, but really they just need to use the 22k acid rather than the 24k.
any acid I've tested gave a whole new range of colors...and sounds, and perceptions and tastes...
The Californina Kid
(I'm the sqaurest thing on earth, wouldn't recognize a drug if it was thrown at me.)
Don't take the brown acid!
+10 for the Woodstock reference.
This article is BS. If you acid test your silver and it turns the acid green you have a big big problem
You don't say, again.
He did say, again,... again...
Seek (first post) is once again spot on.
Way more important: We have made it through 9/11/14 without incident. Thank you, Jesus!
We'll now, *somebody* (who shall remain nameless) crapped in my pants this afternoon. So I'd hardly call that "without incident", thank you very much.
lol
And herein lies the problem, if one merely "straps in", then the only thing one needs fear is the talky-monkeys in their head...:
Somebody else had a close call...but it was just a wet fart.
Day ain't over with, yet.
But, I do concur, nonetheless
Just wait for the Sunday big time MSM political talk shows..... Mark my words.... We made it through despite the interminable nasty evil fuckers trying to eradicate freedom and democracy from the face of the planet solely due to the unbelievable sacrifices of our intrepid authorities guarding our borders, ports, transportation hubs and beating small children selling lemonade, which demands ever increasing vigilance and fealty to polices put in place and yet to come which will ensure the system's (ah hem, get it, system) survival for the children. And it's gonna take 10,000 times the resources to ensure our collective (note, collective as freedoms) security in the future. Must kill all the brown people everywhere that even look at us funny. USA USA USA USA USA.....
Betcha betcha betcha
Jesus schmesus! Thank The DHS!! /troll off
Why would anybody want to test to see if you're buying fake gold and silver? Wouldn't you always want to buy real gold or silver?
It's like those street signs; "Caution, Slow Children" Why would you let slow children in busy streets?
It's so confusing
Just remember: the faster you drive, the less time you'll spend on the road. Do it, not only for the slow children, but also for the fat chicks.
*Think* about it...
No, silly! That refers to their intelligence! The signs for slow children means there's dumb kids in the neighborhood!
The should have those signs at all US airports. Should read caution slow people though.
Thanks Tyler!
What do you know about the timing on TSHTF?
It's happening in east Ukraine, Syria, Iraq and Gaza right now. Shouldn't be long.
FFWD 3 years later...
" anytime now"
And West Africa
Fukushima and Mexico
Like a thief in the night. You'll wake up one morning to discover that *someone* has mysteriously crapped in your pajamas.
Don't laugh; it happened to me.
Traumatic, I take it?
It was AWFUL. I was looking around for a dog turd in my bedroom for 20 minutes, before I realized that stench was coming from inside my pants!
How much did you drink the night before?!
Sounds like one of those horror movies, where the text is coming from 127.0.0.1.
You don't sleep alone do you?
Also cats. Cats will bring anything into the bed. -Don't ask.
I hate it when my cat drags home ugly drunk chicks and makes me sleep with them...
This thread is a cat-astrophe.
Ping test your coins with an Iphone app:
http://www.cointrustapp.com/en/index.php
Just in time for the new lows to be made in both PMs. Paper gold is ALL fake but it doesn't appear to matter.
If one has the capital and either doesn't leverage or at least doesn't overleverage, one can start scaling into long exposure to the metals. I dare them to take it lower and expose the phyzz/paper divergence. Miners will get hit hard and that means supply goes down, and last I checked silver is an amazing industrial metal, too.
Downside risk is severely limited especially if one doesn't use margin, or if does, doesn't overleverage. If one has survived this contrived selloff over the past few years, now PMs can be picked up on the cheap, scaling in. Nothing has changed as far as debt levels, unfunded liabilities, pension promises, geopolitical concerns, QE either outright or covert, etc.
Good idea: I'll buy a third now, a third when it gets to $1000 and then another third when it hits $800... then I'll sell it all when it hits $250.
Misfired post.
Some correction is required regarding magnetic attraction. Silver commonly is produced in jewelry form with a Rhodium plating. The Rhodium is applied over a nickel coating on the silver. With rare-earth magnets, Rhodium-coated silver will be mildly attracted on account of the nickel. I've fire assayed a batch of Rhodium-coated Sterling jewelry and it resulted in greater than .925 purity.
And that's why I love mercury dimes. No counterfeiting reports, and they buy a loaf of bread... then, now, and quite possibly in the future.
+1 on this article btw.
They are wonderful, aren't they? I stack mostly eagles, but I also keep a dozen sleeves of dimes, just for that purpose. Think I'll buy some more tomorrow.
Ha. Great handle. Early Dylan take off, I'd say...
They forgot the float test. Threw my gold in the lake one time, and it floated away...
Must be some witchy Au.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAzTnsSgs2s
Aww man, you threw away the chocolate ones.
The rectumended way to test if your precious metals are genuine is to be so anal when you buy that you have little or nothing to worry about thereafter.
Do your research on the online seller(s) - thorough research! Take however many days as you need for this.
Only buy stuff that comes with its own assay and is sealed in the mint's plastic bubble or has the Mintmark SI seal, and get your $20 Mintmark SI lens. Sunshine Minting is really popular for silver and gold because they adhere to verifiable authentication technologies.
Stay away from coins, unless they come with a cert. and are sealed in the mint's plastic bubble or plastic solid. Coins also have a premium you must pay when you buy and a similar sized dock in the price you will get when you sell - double hit there.
Don't pay more for 9999 silver (Canadian, mostly) because even if silver went to $1000 per oz the difference in value between 9999 and 999 would only be $1.
Check out JM Bullion - do your own research on them - I recommend them.
I highly recommend Provident Metals for all your high quality boating accident type material.
I would have said Merit a month ago until the axe fell on their business. Closed after 28 years. http://www.meritgold.com
Merit had everyone beat on bullion, sovereigns, francs, maples and free shipping starting at $1,500. Show me a deal as good as they offered.
...no offense brother but Merit became a bloated main stream media whore bordering on a cheap trick fast money scam operation.
Well known that way to many, sorry to say.
They had every Tom, Dick and Harry cheap low-life retired actor advertising for them to the poor senior masses that they could find.
The actors all got their cut and Merit's real legitimate business took the hit.
Provident folks are solid.
Been buying from APMEX lately, however it may be time to diversity...
No way - Tulving has Merit beat hands down! Check out Tulving. I don't know how that guy keeps his lights on with low low price like that!
Tulving didn’t keep his lights on and this was covered by ZH months ago.
10.49 is the density of silver at room temperature. Density is mass/volume. How can you come up with density by dividing mass/mass. I wouldn't trust the author of this article unless someone can explain this to me. It is past my bedtime so I might not be thinking straight.
That technique works due to the fact that the difference between the weight of just the water and its weight while partially supporting the mass of metal suspended within it is directly related to the difference between the SGs of the water and the metal. It's a pretty common technique for determining SG. The real problem is that while this might give you some confidence with silver, gold and tungsten have SGs within 3 significant figures of each other. Using this approach at home usually isn't going to be accurate enough to tell the difference between the two.
What this test measures is specific gravity. It is a dimensionless quantity representing the ratio of two densities (the infographic has it wrong where it puts a "g" after the values). Given that water has a density of close to 1 g/cm3, the measured SG value will be close to the value of the density of the tested object in g/cm3.
ProTip: you can get a better accuracy (resolution) of the measurement by placing a stand with a thread on the scale, zeroing, and then hanging the object on the thread and submerging it in water (just like in the method shown in the infographic, making sure it is fully submerged, does not touch the container, and that there are no air bubbles on the object or on the thread). You need a stand that you can place in the center of the scale, with an arm long enough to make sure that the object will hang freely in the water without touching anything, and which is heavy and stable enough so that it does not tip over under the weight of the object, but the stand+hung object should not exceed the maximum weight limit of the scale. Then take a measurement W2. Together with the measurement of the weight of the dry object W1 you can get the SG by this formula:
SG = W1/(W1-W2)
Both methods exploit the Archimedes' principle to obtain the weight of the water that is displaced by the submerged object.
I don't think anyone will let me do any of these tests until after I buy the PM. I only buy coins, one or two at a time, so it won't be helpful.
How to test if gold is fake: Is it in Ft Knox? Yes? Then it's fake.
When I saw that headline my first thought was.
WHAT THE FUCK IS THE DIFFERENCE?
Fastest, most secure and most convenient method for PM testing: eddy current tester.
Takes 1 second testing fine silver, fine gold or gold coins.
BTW: you may need 2 different testers for small coins/small bars (up to 100g) and big bars above 100g since penetration depth is depending on frequency. And testers are either high frquency (~ 60 to 900 khz) or low frequency (100 Hz to 1 khz).
Penetration depth ~ 1 / SQRT( frequeny )
Testers are not cheap but worth every penny spent.
Testers you'll be happy with: SIGMATEST (=hi freq) from Foerstergroup http://www.foerstergroup.com and SIGMASCOPE GOLD from FISCHER (they are producing hi freq and low freq testers) http://www.globalspec.com/FeaturedProducts/Detail/FischerTechnology/SIGM...
Eddy current is good at testing plastic-wrapped (max 0.5mm) PMs which an ultrasonic tester cannot (needs contact fluid).
As soon as eddy current is entering your work place, ultrasonic testers like GM PHASOR XS are off the pay roll ;)
Just buy your Eagles in a sealed red box from a known dealer and everything should sink nicley!
Dog
The "weight test" above is baloney.
Putting the stuff (metal / water) on a scale does NOT work.
The weight must be suspended and weighed in air vs in water, or, the scale must be IN the water vs in air.
If you weigh the displaced water and compare it to the weight of gold or silver you can calculate specific density, which is useful. However, it requires special glassware. This article is grossly inaccurate.
I don't get it. If you zero out the water and its container, then add the silver, the weight will be that of the silver. So dividing that weight by the initial silver weight will equal 0. Right? What am I missing?
You are missing the part where it says "don't touch the dish". If you look up a more detailed explanation of how to do a specific gravity test for a solid object it will more clearly say that the thread and the object should not lay on or hang from or touch the container but should be supported separately.
There are two methods, both rely on the Archimedes' principle. I included some Wikipedia links and some explanations in this post.
I use the density test for my 100oz silver bars. Any tall and narrow measurement container will do the trick rather than a flat container for better result. It's impossible using density test on coins.
I use Fisch to detect fake gold coin but recently there are counterfeits which can pass the Fisch test. Luckily, these fakes don't ping. They make a thug sound like a Canadian Maple would when they are dropped on hard surface. These counterfeits are only in American Eagle and Krugerrand as far as I know.
You are talking about a test where the water overflows. That would indeed be unnecessarily complicated yet inaccurate. The test they mention uses Archimedes' principle and does not involve overflowing. There is also a second related method of doing the same test which I explained in this post.
This method I explained is accurate enough to test even small gold coins. I've done it several times using a regular cheap 0.01g resolution digital scale.
It is not baloney.
It uses Archimedes' principle and Newton's third law of motion. When the object is suspended (the thread obviously should not be supported by the scale but by something else, e.g. by hand) in the glass of water on the scale it effectively measures the weight of the water that was displaced by the object.
However, their method is somewhat less accurate than the method you described, as I explained above.
Thanks Tylers. I saved both the infographic and the video for future reference. I have an acid test kit, but the ping and magnet tests look useful too.
I'm pretty sure my gold is real, and most of my silver, but some of the silver I bought from that Jew in Chicago might be fake ....
Every one knows you can't eat gold, but Federal reserve notes make a tasty salad.
Luckily nobody ever plans to try and sell this shit so who cares if it's fake.
The movement from $1800 to $1200 is real
That would imply the $ represents something "real".
You still have an ounce of gold.
And at $1200, you should be buying more.
true... but the move up from $400 per ounce that I paid back in the early 80's is also real
Just wondering what would cause you to sell it $1900 I take was not enough
for all the posters that that reply in the realm of "WHO GIVES A CRAP" = "I DON'T HAVE SHITE SO WHAT DO I CARE"
"Peer to peer currencies are immue to fakes"
You should follow the leaders of the pack (China Russia India) : do they Btc? NO they buy gold.
End of story... It's a loooong run but I betcha that around 2025 you'll be glad you bought some PMs around 2014.
How do you test for fake markets ?
The prices go higher and higher as volume goes lowere and lower.
HOW TO TEST FIAT CURRENCIES:
- take a note in your left hand and a match in your right hand
- burn the note
- what is left is the real - intrinsic - value of the tested currency
I just look for the can of gold spray paint when I’m buying my gold from the flea market guy.
How can I weigh a lakes weight, all my coins fell over board in a drunken kayak mishap
You are doing it wrong. You need to do your next kayak trip over deep ocean water.
magnet test for silver.
Magnets must be Neodymium.
And for small pieces, ie coins and small bars.
TD, some days you are worth a damn.
Thanks.
Just take it to the "We buy gold here" guys and let them test it,