Fake gold bars showing up in NYC

UtahCoin

I know this belongs in the PM forum, but dealers and gold buyers here need to be aware. Link

coindeuce

They're not fake at all. Merely altered, with tungsten substituted in to the core of legitimate gold bars.

Zoins

For bullion buyers, buying coins slabbed by PCGS might be a smart thing!

Here's the photo of the tungsten in a hollowed out real gold bar.

CaptHenway

Big long thread on it here:

linky

and two more in the PM forum

coindeuce

For the record, the photo above posted by Zoins is not the 10 oz. bar that was recently discovered in Manhattan. That bar was a more flat, extrusion style bar that had about 35% tungsten by mass in it.

Zoins

Additionally, it appears the 10oz bar from the other article apparently is a fake.

coindeuce

<< <i>Additionally, it appears the 10oz bar from the other article apparently is a fake. >>



The gold in the bar found in Manhattan is not fake. It's the real deal. Maybe you meant to state that the tungsten found inside the bar is fake gold. The reason tungsten is being substituted is that it has a specific gravity nearly identical to pure gold, but tungsten has a market value of only a tiny percentage of that for gold.

Zoins

<< <i>

<< <i>Additionally, it appears the 10oz bar from the other article apparently is a fake. >>



The gold in the bar found in Manhattan is not fake. It's the real deal. Maybe you meant to state that the tungsten found inside the bar is fake gold. The reason tungsten is being substituted is that it has a specific gravity nearly identical to pure gold, but tungsten has a market value of only a tiny percentage of that for gold. >>



I meant the PAMP 039388 bar is a fake. It's not an altered real bar as suggested.



<< <i>They're not fake at all. Merely altered, with tungsten substituted in to the core of legitimate gold bars. >>



In Tom's linked thread Daniel identified counterfeit diagnostics such as the position of the E in SUISSE, the fonts and the relief.

Even if it was solid gold, it would still be a fake. A fake coin made of real gold is still a fake, like the Omegas.

mrpotatoheadd

I undestood zoin's comment to mean that the 10 oz. bar purported to be pure gold was not in fact pure gold, not that the gold that was there was fake. But then, that's just me.

LanceNewmanOCC

.
just connecting these threads for my convenience.

i've just stocked my image file with 100+ bullion related products including these little bars, and man there are a lot of types and sizes out there

is anything easy these days, sheesh
.