Sigma PMV reviews?

derryb

would like to hear from the owners of the Sigma Precious Metal Verifier on how well it works and ease of use. Interested in its ability to detect plated items with 100% accuracy.

SmallTownCoins

I thought someone might have responded by now..
So, here are a few thoughts...

If you are buying from the public, silver or gold, you need this thing...

There is a slight learning curve on how to read it, but the more I use it the better I like it...

A customer came in with 4 ngc slabbed gold coins, 2 saints and 2 KR's...

They all had a slightly different shade to them so we put them to the test..

All 4 were bad, the arrow's pointed off the chart -->

I still have not heard back to see if he was able to return the coins or not...

Another situation where a guy had a one pound silver Morgan 999 silver....

The dot on the machine would not get between the brackets, so I filed the face....

Copper inside.. Plated... so the machine paid for itself twice last week...

Look at the cheek of the big silver coin.. Copper ...

BAJJERFAN

So what does one use for a calibration standard? Does it need to be calibrated for each PM?



As an aside does anyone know if gold coins submitted to a TPG for grading are checked with a PM verifier? NGC would have a lot of egg on their face if the slabs are authentic, but the coins aren't.

USASoccer

A weird request, would it work to test sterling silver? Is these any chance you could try, thank you.

Meltdown

It does have settings for .925 sterling as well as 90%.
Here are a couple scary fakes that came into my local bullion shop.
The owner there uses it for every purchase, I help him out sometimes... I've never seen it wrong and he swears by it.

USASoccer

Cool, what I was worried about if you say had a sterling fork that is NOT flat how would it work? Thank you.

DrBuster

So if its real a bar shows up in the middle of the brackets or what??

derryb

Originally posted by: DrBuster
So if its real a bar shows up in the middle of the brackets or what??

You select the metal you are testing and a bar inside the brackets indicates authentic. Outside the brackets indicates not authentic. Biggest advantage to the PMV is that it reads through any authentic plating to indicate a not authentic core.

ShadyDave

If you go to youtube and search "sigma precious metal verifier", then you will find dozens of videos that explain how it works and hear peoples feelings on these machines. While they are expensive, if you don't go to shops/sellers who know their stuff, it is good to have one of these. The engelhard bar to me is pretty obvious from the serial number...just another reason to stay away from bars.

ricko

Great piece of equipment... expensive... but if one is going to be buying from various sources, well worth the investment. Cheers, RickO