I was doing some research this morning on Chinese companies in the coin counterfeiting business and stumbled across this article, which may freak some of you out, but there's no use to hiding your head in the sand.
When are the TPG's going to grade bullion bars? What we need is slabs for bars of standard shape. That way, I would be hopeful that spurious bars that have tungsten cores could be weeded out.
Slabbed or not, what's really needed is a retail market chain of custody system that would run parallel to the existing retail bullion market. The question, though, is whether or not there's enough interest among customers and retailers.
Counterfeiting has become a much bigger problem in numismatics in recent years, and at this point the quality of the fakes and their wide distribution pose the threat of totally undermining certain segments of the hobby. Of course, in the case of gold bullion products being forged, severe losses may be incurred and unwary companies may be forced out of business.
Aside from patent, trademark, and copyright infringements, I admit a lot of what goes on does seem pretty innocuous. No one will likely die on account of buying a phony high end handbag or pair of athletic shoes, and in fact, many consumers are perfectly aware they're purchasing more affordable knock-offs. But the Chinese also counterfeit things like pharmecuticals and aircraft parts. So this whole culture that coldly and amorally weighs risk versus potential profit is something to be exposed and fought in as many instances as possible.
Quote: Counterfeiting has become a much bigger problem in numismatics in recent years, and at this point the quality of the fakes and their wide distribution pose the threat of totally undermining certain segments of the hobby. Of course, in the case of gold bullion products being forged, severe losses may be incurred and unwary companies may be forced out of business.
Aside from patent, trademark, and copyright infringements, I admit a lot of what goes on does seem pretty innocuous. No one will likely die on account of buying a phony high end handbag or pair of athletic shoes, and in fact, many consumers are perfectly aware they're purchasing more affordable knock-offs. But the Chinese also counterfeit things like pharmecuticals and aircraft parts. So this whole culture that coldly and amorally weighs risk versus potential profit is something to be exposed and fought in as many instances as possible.
An interesting tester and company that guaranteed that if a gold coin passed all three of their tests, it would buy the coin from you for the price of gold spot if indeed it was a fake, they found AGE and Krugerrands that are tungsten cored that have passed their tests, so no longer offer the guarantee on those coins, Chinese fakes are getting down right scary, unless you possess a $30K XRF machine that penetrates deep into a sample.
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Everything would come down to cost it always does, if it's starts to cost company's money to do the tests to weed out the fakes. Who do you think is going to pay for the extra cost in the testing, they will just pass the cost onto the people who are buying gold and silver. In the end gold and silver will cost more when it gets to us it always does, the question is. How can you do it so the cost does not filter down to the buyer
The Fisch tester system has added a new product they are calling The Ringer. Their position seems to be that the characteristics of ring, thickness, color, and detail can still detect a tungsten fake. Again, it comes down to due diligence on the part of buyers and sellers.
The experienced guys and gals here already know this stuff, but...
In case anyone here hasn't seen and heard a ring test of both a genuine gold coin and a modern tungsten fake, check out this video from The Fisch:
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While I think The Ringer is a nice device, you absolutely don't need a special tool to perform a ring test. Also, the ring test is nothing new; it's been used for ages. The point here is that, once you know what to listen for, performing a ring test can help spot fake coins that otherwise might appear to meet published physical specifications.
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You don't even need a ringer device to do a comparative ring tone test:
1. Rest both the suspect fake coin, and a known equivalent genuine coin, on upwards pointing gloved fingers, next to each other, a couple of inches above a soft surface, such as a clean towel, lest they fall.
2. Very gently tap the edge of both coins, but not hard enough lest they fall, so that they ring together. The coins can also be tapped separately. If there is even a slight difference in ring tone with unworn coins, the suspect coin MUST be a fake.
This test will not only identify if the suspect coin has a core of a different metal (by the dull sound), but if the coins are of different homogeneous alloys.
Cost of testing instrument: Nil (none required) Cost of doing the test: Nil. (You do it yourself)
If you haven't got a known equivalent coin with which to compare, take the coin to a friend or a dealer who has.
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Posted 08/04/2015 2:32 pm
