I have the coin ping tester. I used it last night for silver eagles. They tested fake but everything else checked out with the coins, I was getting concerned. Then I tried again tonight but pinged the coin on its side, on the edge and it worked, so the point is it very much matters how you ping the coin. I won't be bothering a coin shop on Monday to ask them if I got ripped off now. Yay.
Bullion Silver Eagles are only sold directly to qualified bullion dealers from the US Mint. That's why you want to buy from the big names like APMEX and SD Bullion. The US Mint only produces the proof and what they call "uncirculated" to the public at a pretty substantial markup.
