Given the huge disparity between gold spot price ($993/oz.) and a metal of the exact same density (Tungsten at around $35/kg.), it will be very cost-effective for
enterprising people to clad a tungsten bar in gold and pass it off as real bullion. The details on gold bars are also far easier to duplicate than coins.
Judging by this site I just found, people are already working on it.
If this seems far-fetched,
here's an article by Popular Science.Excerpt from the PS article:
Quote:
A top-of-the-line fake gold bar should match the color, surface hardness, density, chemical, and nuclear properties of gold perfectly. To do this, you could could start with a tungsten slug about 1/8-inch smaller in each dimension than the gold bar you want, then cast a 1/16-inch layer of real pure gold all around it. This bar would feel right in the hand, it would have a dead ring when knocked as gold should, it would test right chemically, it would weigh *exactly* the right amount, and though I don't know this for sure, I think it would also pass an x-ray fluorescence scan, the 1/16" layer of pure gold being enough to stop the x-rays from reaching any tungsten. You'd pretty much have to drill it to find out it's fake.
Posted 02/21/2009 3:52 pm
I sure wouldn't--but if they make fake bullion, I bet it will end up on ebay.
