Does My Pan American Bar Look Right?

The weight doesn't sound too terribly off to me.
I mean, we see ASEs that weigh 31.7g, 31.5g, and in rare cases 32g--and they are minted by the official US Mint.
If it weighs less than 31.1g, that's when things get very suspicious.

Generic bars are not made to the exacting standards that coins are made. So weights can fluctuate between bars and manufacturers.




Really ? I would like to see that, I have been collecting ASE since 1986 and have never seen one fluctuate in weight by more than 1/10th of a gram or so. Certainly have never seen one even close to 32 gram.

nope, came in plastic envelope, the same used for my other silver coins
in that particular purchase. only it was cellotaped down.

the silver coins weigh correctly.

HH

fails the magnet test, slides right off whereas
with my silver round the magnet slowly moves down.

I don't think the ice test is accurate cos if it
was a copper alloy it would conduct heat at ~3/4
the strength of silver so is hard to test accurately.

do I have good enough reason to send it back?

HH

Bars get banged up the most at the corners. Check for red, and check for other white metal that looks different in color to the surface.

Fine silver is very soft. You should be able to dent a corner pretty easily assuming you're okay with doing that. Don't get attached to bullion because if you can't test it there's really no point to buying it.

Here's the easiest way to identify it as a fake without acid (I'm almost positive this bar is):

Measure the bars thickness. If it's about 1/8" it is a fake.
If it comes in closer to .85" it is probably authentic.

If the edges have a yellowish looking tone... probably a fake.
If you take a 5x mag to it and see copper looking flakes it is probably a fake.

The rare earth magnet should "kind of pull the bar around" if you lie the bar on a smooth surface and spin a magnet on top of it. A real bar will move with it way more than a fake.

The fakes vary in weight. Some are pretty darn close, so weighing them alone is not nearly enough.

Take a stupid knife to the edge and dig into it a little. Nobody is ever going to care about the condition of the edge of the thing. You are probably going to see some copper... dig a tad deeper still if any of the abovementioned identifiers exist. See copper? Dig a little deeper and you'll see brass.

This very scientifically described method will also work for the normal NWT bars. The market is ABSOLUTELY FLOODED with these fakes as of late. ebay has reached a point where it should be shut down. Buy from major players unless you all really know what you're buying. Hope this helps some of you out. Better check those bars. If you don't own a fake you should get one just to use as a reference.

thanks for the replies, I've sent it back, maybe it's time
for them to check/verify my tests. I think I've done sufficient
tests without damaging the bar in any way.

so as people know, I did buy from a shop/dealer with over a decade
of trading and the right labels/logos that checked out fine at the
other end. my other silver items from them seam to pass the checks.

HH