How to Test for Fake Silver & Gold Bullion INFOGRAPHIC by Silver.com

In recent years, the production of fake silver and gold bullion products has been on the rise.

If you are watching this video on YouTube, you can click on the link below to read this new free info graphic.

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There are two main types of fake bullion products threatening the market today.

Plated counterfeits are more common place… while hallowed out bars have been sold as recent as 2012 in New York’s famous diamond district.

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We’re going to show you some at home tests you can run to ensure your bullion is real.

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The Magnet Test

Silver and Gold bullion are diamagnetic, meaning that a strong magnet will not stick to them but you will see some resistance when a strong magnet slides across the surface of silver or gold bullion.

Notice the difference in speed between the magnet moving across the silver bar versus the paper booklet.

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The Ice Test

Silver is the best conductor of heat so we compared a real silver eagle versus a fake silver eagle by melting a piece of ice on them simultaneously.

Of all the tests we ran, this was probably the least definitive given that the copper in the fake coin is also a good conductor of heat.

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Ping Test

A ping test is performed simply by placing a bullion product on the tip of one’s finger and striking it like a tuning fork.

Please Note - 24K gold is too soft to work in a ping test. The shape of a bullion coin, round, or bar will directly affect it’s resonance and ping test ability.

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Acid Test

An acid test may help you identify if your bullion is real, just note that fake clad bullion coins will still test positive due to their thin precious metal venires.

Notice how on the fake coin on the left, the acid turns green die to the silver on the outer layer of the counterfeit coin.

Note too that acid tests leave burn marks on bullion items so this method of testing is certainly not for proof coin collectors.

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UltraSound & Caliper Test

The same technology used to map ocean floors and help administer prenatal care can also help you determine if your bullion is indeed wholly made of precious metals.

In this test we used a $135 ultrasonic thickness gauge tester which uses the speed of sound through silver to gives us an approximate thickness of the silver bullion bar.

We then used a $17 caliper to measure and cross verify our bullion bar’s thickness.

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Specific Gravity Weight Test

Perhaps the best most cost effective testing for bullion products is the specific gravity test. For this test you will need a digital scale, some distilled water, some string and a cup.

First you weigh the item in question.

Then add the cup with water and balance the scale back to zero.

Next fully immerse the item into the water without touching the sides or bottom of the cup, take down the measurement.

Finally divide the dry weight of the item with it’s water weight and you will get the item’s specific gravity.

Silver’s specific gravity is 10.49 Gold’s Specific Gravity is 19.32

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Be wary of silver and gold bullion deals too good to be true.

If you do buy bullion through ebay make sure to use protective third party payment systems like Paypal or credit cards.

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We suggest buying your bullion from trusted dealers who source their metals direct from the mints.

Make sure your trusted bullion dealer also tests and verifies all the products they may buy and sell from secondary market sources.

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Thank you for watching this video and until next time, keep stacking!

[bobbrueckner]

THANKS, By posting this video you have probably saved a lot of people from getting ripped off.

[timhofstetter]

No need for your scales to be digital, or in any manner electronic. You can certainly use a small three-beam scale, especially if you pre-calibrate it with a set of good standards.

[GameChanger-hjjx]

Great Video! Thanks

Probably the best video ever on silver

[thepvporg]

You don't put acid on the item, you rub the item on a jewellers stone then test the stone, then wash off with soap and water when done.

[kenlukasik]

You scared the crap out of me. I cut open the Perth plastic tamper proof case and saw "VOID VOID VOID" appear as soon as I cut it open. My 1 oz gold bar is as you said, about the thickness of a regular quarter, weighs 480 grains on my scale, and is 1 5/8" tall x almost 1" wide. Now I see that my gold is definitely real gold. Yes, and the magnet test did show a slowing of the magnet across the surface.

[HappyHermitt]

Thanks.
I've bought from you several times.

[Jademyheart]

What a brilliant, informative upload 💯👌
Thanks Budd 👍

[jplonmar]

The last step(from 05:00) was genius!!! I have been trying to find a way for density test. Now I found it!
I like to point out that in order to be accurate. Step 3 is very crucial! You have to
1 completely submerge the coin and
2 the coin can NOT touch the bottom (or the side) of the container.
3 the string used should be as thin as possible. (You want the string to displace least amount of water)

[lothean]

This was extremely interesting. Loved the video

[nayanmipun]

Cheaters can still hollow the gold bar and put a non gold weight inside, until you scan the gold bar to see it's insides you cannot tell if this bar is gold inside too

[josephotoet]

Thank you, then how will I test silver from raw form

[IsaacAlcocer]

If you wanna test the conductivity use a multimeter, or place the coin over a metal surface so the heat can be dissipated thru it. the paper is working as a thin layer of isolator

[HifiCentret]

I don't know whether silver or gold is diamagnetic (most non magnetic metals are in fact either very weak ferro or diamagnetic not so little you need scientific tests to show it). HOWEVER it's NOT diamagnetics that make the magnet slide slowly down silver. It's magnetic braking due to eddy currents and the fact that silver is the metal that conducts electricity the best. In brass, lead etc. there's also generated eddy currents but since brass is a very poor conductor of electricity the braking is much less.

[zoeygraceg]

I go a bunch to see for myself how good they loomed

[ajs]

The specific gravity test was helpful.

[drgwhatsthetruth]

For silver I use the weight/size and rare earth methods.

[dmlchannel]

Outstanding video and should prove to be helpful to many in verifying their purchases.

[edcko]

So an American Gold Eagle would interact the same way with a neodymium magnet right?

[adventurecapitalist]

thank you. Very well done. And here is a kicker back to you that I discovered while conducting your tests. I when I placed my coin up on a $20 bill, it fits President Jackson's head almost perfectly. hmmmm. thank you.

[rich]

You can buy an ounce of gold for $20. Usually it's just a slab of tungsten with a micron thick layer of gold electroplating LOL. The gold layer is so thin, you can still see the machining scratches on the tungsten xD