Posted 10/22/2019 09:16 am
Best thing to do is learn the color of gold. It's mostly an orange-y yellow. This is just me, but I'm a cowboy so I bite my gold (24K!) bars and coins to test them. Do not trust the packaging! Packaging is easier to fake than gold itself as it doesn't require any specialized skills to print something.
Most fake gold bars that I've seen are too yellow and are visibly plated. It takes experience to spot plating, but once you sort out your colors in your mind it's like spotting emeralds and diamonds; it becomes a split-second decision. Anyone who spends a lot of time doing only one thing become really good at it, same with all of our hobbies.
Font is another big indicator. A letter isn't just a letter. They have certain aesthetic styles which please the eye or the opposite. In a lot of cases the counterfeiter couldn't be bothered to copy a bar straight up.
The reason that they overhaul the design altogether is because the volume of the bar must be a certain size (think of density of gold). You would think that a straight copy would be enough but that would mean that the bars would be underweight (debased metals are not as heavy as gold). Most fake bars are the exact size of real gold bars from the top-down, but the THICKNESS of the bar gives it away. It will weigh 31.1g or even more, but gold is DENSE. Take your bars out of the packaging and start FEELING your gold. BEND it. BITE it. If it's difficult to leave a scratch or dent on it then it's not gold. If you have a strong young hand it is not difficult to bend a gold coin or bar with just your fingers in one hand. Think of it as modern "chopmarks". Authenticators. This is bullion, not numismatic. The material that you're investing in doesn't degrade or become "lesser" if you dent the gold. That's a solid fact, but just don't do it to rare bars with collector value. Usually they won't come out of nowhere; they will come into the legitimate market with provenance.
Long story short: measure your gold bars with a ruler or calipers against known gold bars to make sure the volume and density is correct. Gold coins are smaller than one might imagine them to be (Scrooge McDuck had some massive gold coins).
The fakers are banking on the hope that the only test you do out of the package is weighing it on a scale. Please, I urge people to know what gold looks and feels like.
Most fake gold bars that I've seen are too yellow and are visibly plated. It takes experience to spot plating, but once you sort out your colors in your mind it's like spotting emeralds and diamonds; it becomes a split-second decision. Anyone who spends a lot of time doing only one thing become really good at it, same with all of our hobbies.
Font is another big indicator. A letter isn't just a letter. They have certain aesthetic styles which please the eye or the opposite. In a lot of cases the counterfeiter couldn't be bothered to copy a bar straight up.
The reason that they overhaul the design altogether is because the volume of the bar must be a certain size (think of density of gold). You would think that a straight copy would be enough but that would mean that the bars would be underweight (debased metals are not as heavy as gold). Most fake bars are the exact size of real gold bars from the top-down, but the THICKNESS of the bar gives it away. It will weigh 31.1g or even more, but gold is DENSE. Take your bars out of the packaging and start FEELING your gold. BEND it. BITE it. If it's difficult to leave a scratch or dent on it then it's not gold. If you have a strong young hand it is not difficult to bend a gold coin or bar with just your fingers in one hand. Think of it as modern "chopmarks". Authenticators. This is bullion, not numismatic. The material that you're investing in doesn't degrade or become "lesser" if you dent the gold. That's a solid fact, but just don't do it to rare bars with collector value. Usually they won't come out of nowhere; they will come into the legitimate market with provenance.
Long story short: measure your gold bars with a ruler or calipers against known gold bars to make sure the volume and density is correct. Gold coins are smaller than one might imagine them to be (Scrooge McDuck had some massive gold coins).
The fakers are banking on the hope that the only test you do out of the package is weighing it on a scale. Please, I urge people to know what gold looks and feels like.
Edited by Libertad
10/22/2019 09:24 am
10/22/2019 09:24 am
to the Community, Goldeneye120!
