Fake Silver Bars

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Dealers don't want people to think that there is much fake silver out there, as scared customers reduces demand for their products. However, we think it is important for you to understand the risks out there, and be informed -- so you will be less likely to suffer a loss due to counterfeit or fake silver bars or coins.


What Silver Bars and Coins are Commonly Counterfeited?


Chinese Silver Panda Coins

These are likely the most widespread counterfeit coins out there. Some of them are easily identified because they are missing the denomination (e.g. '10 Yuan'), most are easily identified because they weigh less than they should (~25g versus the 31.1g a real one should weigh), but some come in what looks at first glance to be sheets of mint plastic with genuine COAs.
If you are looking to buy silver pandas, the best thing to do here is buy from a knowledgeable dealer, who sells a fair amount of Chinese pandas.



100 Ounce Silver Bars

See our page on lead-filled 100 ounce silver bars for the full details and pictures.
Apparently, at some point in the 1980s, it was discovered that some 100 ounce silver bars were drilled and filled with lead. They are reported to weigh the same as real bars, and to be virtually indistinguishable from real bars. However, they are not as prevelant as one might imagine. And, they contain about 25 to 45 ounces of silver, so the bars are not a total loss.


U.S. Silver Eagles

There are some counterfeit U.S. Silver Eagles, but most are very crude (e.g. having a date of 1906, before the silver eagles were first minted).

Gold Coins/Bars

There are quite a few gold coins, and some gold bars, that have been counterfeited. Almost all are underweight, or thicker than a real coin. The others are usually thicker than normal. The two exceptions to this rule are [1] gold coins with numismatic value (I.E. rare coins) may be counterfeited with real gold, and [2] if a coin or bar was made using tungsten, it could be the same size as a real coin (yet it would be difficult to create).

What about Tungsten Filled 400 ounce Gold Bars?

Someone named Rob Kirby reported on 15 Oct 2009 that "In an Asian depository they've found "Good Delivery" bricks that had been gutted and filled with tungsten". Then, on 12 Nov 2009, he further reported that 5,600-5,700 400oz gold bars were discovered in Hong Kong. And that within hours "Chinese officials had many of the perpetrators in custody", despite the fact that this occurred "Roughly 15 years ago â€" during the Clinton Administration." And that 1.3-1.5 million 400 oz tungsten blanks were made by a refiner in the U.S., about half of which were shipped to Ft. Knox and are still there. And that the rest were gold-plated and sold internationally.
Reports of tungsten-based 400 ounce gold bars have occurred as easly as about 1982 (per Precious Metals 1982, by International Precious Metals Institute, p.657 -- "there are 400 ounces and kilo bars with tungsten cores bearing real looking but counterfeit markings of respected refiners.")

However, this report has plenty of holes. First, there are no sources. Then, the first report and second conflict (real bars that are gutten and filled with tungsten, versus tungsten blanks that are gold plated). Then, there's the fact that there are precise details (5,600 to 5,700 bars, 1.3 to 1.5 million blanks), which if true show that sources include Hong Kong officials *and* United States perpetrators, yet the alleged refiner wasn't named.

Even more telling is the fact that the United States currently only has 2 refiners approved for London Good Delivery Bars (Johnson Matthey and Metalor USA Refining Corporation). So there aren't a huge number of potential candidates. And the fact that Chinese officials apparently had 'many' of the perpetrators in custody (yet most of the perpetrators would have been in the United States). Plus, there's the fact that getting 5,600 400 ounce gold bars into the London Good Delivery system isn't easy.

Also, 520 million ounces of gold is more than half of what all the governments in the world have in reserves! It is also 6.5 years worth of global mining production. A refiner putting that much gold suddenly into the Good Delivery System would likely raise a lot of suspicion. They also claim that 640,000 bars were shipped to Fort Knox -- yet 640,000 400 ounce bars is 256 million ounces, yet the United States has 261 million ounces of gold. So they are claiming that 98% of the gold in Fort Knox is all fake, made from a United States refiner in the mid-1990s. That is very hard to believe (and if true, where did the real gold from Fort Knox go?).