How to Identify Counterfeit Gold and Silver Bullion
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An article on how counterfeit bullion is made and how buyers check a piece. It covers the tungsten-core technique, which pieces are copied most often, the checks a buyer can make, the warning signs in a sale, and when professional assay is used.
Key points
- The best-known technique for counterfeit gold uses a tungsten core, because tungsten's density is close to gold's, covered with a plating of gold.
- The pieces counterfeited most are the most valuable and recognizable ones, such as the one-ounce American Gold Eagle, the one-ounce Krugerrand and the ten- and one-hundred-ounce silver bars, while junk silver is rarely copied.
- Genuine mint coins and refinery bars follow exact published weights and sizes, so measuring against the published figures catches copies that match only in appearance.
- No single simple check is proof: a piece that passes a magnet can still have a tungsten core, because tungsten is not magnetic either.
- Bars from accredited refiners carry the refiner's mark, a standard purity, the weight and, on larger pieces, a serial number, and mismatched fonts, odd placement or missing marks are signs the piece did not come from where it says.
- In a sale, a price at or below spot, pressure to decide quickly, or a story built to lower a buyer's guard are warning signs, and professional assay can analyze the composition of a high-value piece without damaging it.