This video shows a fake 1 oz gold bar and then goes into the details of what consumers can do to help to verify authenticity. A direct comparison is made to an Englehard Gold Bar and the fake gold bar goes through several tests.
Mike - it's the same old adage "if it looks too good to be true, it probably isn't" People who buy gold on E-Bay from sellers in China "because it's much less than buying gold from a reputable dealer" almost deserve to get ripped off. Almost, but no one deserves to get ripped off. Greed comes in all shapes and sizes. An important thing is to spend time learning as much as you can before buying. I spent about a month watching, listening and reading before I made my first small silver purchase - and now I'm doing the same for gold. I can't tell you how happy I am that people like you post these videos as a public service so people like me don't buy a fugazi - thank you!
I’m Swiss and i can assure you no Valcambi or any other bullion minted in Switzerland ever has the statement ‘unmistakably Swiss” written on the packaging, that alone is a red light that something is not correct.
I can't rely on the ping test even for silver coins because if you ever try to get a ping from a Canadian maple leaf 1 oz round, it sounds like a dud every time.
Different coins have different geometry and higher relief or raised insignia, that is going to cause the ping to sound different. 90% Morgan's and Peace dollars should always have that 3 second perfect pinnnnnnnnnng. The sound of the ping should be absolutely the same. Even for Walking liberty and Franklin And Kennedy half dollars, they should have the same exact ping sound
ALWAYS buy gold bars and bullion either directly from an official government mint or from a reputable gold bullion dealer. NEVER buy off sellers on eBay.
Yeah but I've seen fake gold come from apmex from pamp Suisse. the best way to tell if gold is real or not is to get a sigma metalytics machine which will cost you about $500, if you're buying gold you can certainly afford one. it sends radio waves through the metals to detect whether it's real silver gold Palladium or platinum and its purity
The only real mint is the US Mint. any other Mint advertised on TV with coins for sale is not in any way related to the government, they only use the word Mint to fool you like that fake bar of gold ,they are privet company's not government
Two (2) things: First, I wished that you had done the "ping" test with the true gold. I really wanted to hear the difference. Second, I wished that you had held the meter so I couldld have seen it better or read the numbers out loud. Anyway, thanks for the video. The information was very valuable to me.
@@MarketHarmony Does this hurt your viewing hours? For instance, does it matter if we watch at 2X speed or 1X speed if we still watch the whole video? Heard a big part of RU-vidrs income opportunity is relative to the number of hours watched per week/mo/yr/etc. Just curious. (I often watch in 2X speed, but never really considered this until now). Thanks for the video!
@@DonnieDouglas I don't know. Even if it did reduce the revenue, I wouldn't mind. I really just want people to get the information. I did not create the video for the ad revenue (though it doesn't hurt). I wish that there never was a fake ever made so that this video wouldn't have even been possible!
There is one more thing I forgot to mention. The real Scotia Bank 1oz bar doesn't have a serial number on the bar itself. Only the package bares the number, exactly like the fake bar you showed. You can't compare apples and oranges. Not all mints have the same standards when it comes to packaging, securing and marking their products.
@@PouchMaster .. Push the button on the scale. Then watch to see if it weighs 1.000 troy ounces. I'm a big metric fanboy, but in this case it's pretty stupid to make a judgement on the weight of an ounce by using grams.
Certainly looks real out of the package. Unfortunately, most people won’t take the time to look that carefully and the bar will end up sitting in a safe deposit box for years as other people also get ripped off. So sad there are so many crooks in the world.
Nice looking Englehard bar. I love the ring of pure gold and silver. I only ever got ripped off by my local dealer. Fake Morgan’s didn’t look right so I weighed them. 2 grams off. They’re losing about $15k a year from me alone . Great video, thanks for your honestly .
hey mike ive alway wanted to get into collecting gold, and im still doing research,and learning. how much does ine of those bars shown on this video go for?
Jose Sanchez - 1oz bars are about $1,280-$1,320 right now. You should start with 1g bars, about $50-$70 each depending on the brand, security features, buy-back option, etc. I prefer Pamp Suisse, UBS Kinebar, Karatbars, and APMEX.
The Gold Haven 1 gram bars? That’s pretty bad advice...better off saving up the cost of at least a 1 Troy ounce bar. Buying grams would incur a shitload of premium.
hi - where can i get a tester like that? i can't find any precious metals detector to let me know it's not counterfeit. i got one and it beeps for ALL METALS (stove, purse, etc.) so it's useless. I need a counterfiet detector that's not too costly for precious metals if anyone can help! thanks
I got my gold bar from my LCD. I got it home and upon close examination I see tiny grayish/black dots that appear to be "chipped" gold plating. I cant really tell because of course the plastic won't move. Everything else looks spot on, but now I am really worried. What would you do? Thank you.
thank you for makingetting this video & im Very sorry for the unfortunate Experience you've had with this paticular company I Hope you Got Refunded ,god bless
mike, I'm pretty sure that size has nothing to do with it. I had a 1oz credit swiss and a 1oz NTR and the NTR looked much larger than the credit swiss, when I sold them the buyer x rayed them both, they were real. Thoughts?
+philip lippens Different manufacturers have different sizing specifications. Bars that are longer / wider are going to be thinner than a bar that is shorter / narrow. And a bar that is short / narrow will be thicker. Density never changes, but dimensions can. As long as 2 different 1 oz bars weigh the same and displace the same 3 dimensional volume, then they can be considered to be of the same singular element.
+philip lippens If 1 bar is wider and longer, it MUST be thinner. Gold must have the same density in all 1oz bars. Usually the variations are minute, most 1 oz bars look identical.
Thank you all, I'm glad I sold them when I did though. I lost about $200.00 on each one, today it is worth even less. I guess it's not for me, I'm to old to buy and wait and I think it's only going lower in the future.
With nothing to compare it too, it would be tough to tell. Would have been perfect if you had an open gold bar ready to compare properly including the ping test and proper dimensions back to back. Like many counterfeit products it’s so hard to tell without something to compare it to and here very costly mistake to make.
I bought a fake omega watch and before that I was going to buy gold on eBay now I'm not after watching this to much fake shit online gets me so mad well now thank you very much for this video
Moving a strong magnet near the surface of diamagnetic materials such as gold, silver, copper, zinc and lead will produce a repulsive force which is easily detected but no so easily calibrated . . . however, it is a quick way to reject a specimen which does not exhibit diamagnetic properties.
question; with a fake bullion or coin that is gold plated (Au = 10% still!)..and a precise weight....does that mean that the acid surface test (scratching a little over a file stone) mistakenly will attest that it is pure gold ?!?!?
Hello Mike. My name is Kris, I have recently come across some pieces I would like your opinion on, please. Some small gold bars that say Mot Luong 37.5 grams at 24 Karats. How can I trust a dealer, buyer? In terms of the value?
this is a hand-held unit and the depth of investigation for X-rays cannot be greater than a few microns, essentially gives you the surface composition of the tested material.
Great video, but it just made me laugh when you first do all kinds of amateur tests like looking at shine and flinging it in the air and then whip out that super awesome metal analyzer and run a density test. "yep, that's copper!". Where do you get that thing, and how much does it cost?
Hes simply trying to provide you with several different ways of testing. The more ways you have to filter out a fake , the better off you are. I personally welcome any and all methods.... even the ones that seem cheesy.... another way to weed out a fake is using a magnet... not all fakes use a core of brass or copper. Many use mild steel, and or other carbon based metals. Its a dead giveaway if the magnet sticks to the fake bar.
A local coin shop is a good place to start. Just be sure of the person with whom you are dealing. Character and reputation is paramount to a quality dealer.
i always thought troy ounces is 31.x grams and a regular ounce is only 28 grams. Most gold bullion does not say troy ounces on it so why would it weight 31.x grams?
Good company but also try JM Bullion and Provident Metals and Modern Coin Mart all really good legit companies. To be truly safe stay away from 1 troy ounce offers from unknown mints close to the region of China. To many fakes. Find reputable Bullion dealer who buy directly from the Mints. If you live US best to stick with North American coins Gold Eagles or Maple Leafs of course IMO.
If you pretty much know it's fake, you can wrap it in a thin plastic so that it keeps the shape of the bar (make it waterproof) and drop it into a container of water that has a hole on the side (make sure the container is as full as possible). Collect the water that spills out. There should be around 31 milliliters of water that spills out. Gold has a specific density. So it should have the proper weight AND volume. Looks like they tried to get close to the right weight as that's the easiest thing to test. But they failed miserably on the volume. edit: As others have said, there are other metals that has similar density to gold. So it's not full proof. But it gives you something to try that's easy to do. If it doesn't match, it's fake.
I would say generally it would be practically (key word practical) impossible to verify a fbar is absolutely not a fake while still in the packaging. Which is why If you were buying bars like these "in assay packs" that you don't won't to break open to test? then if you ask me you simply have to buy from a very trustworthy seller...A BIG trustworthy seller is my recommendation ....one with lots and lots of public feedback
Tungsten which has the closest weight and density comparison to gold has an extreemly high melt temperature. It's not that easy to make an authentic sized and weighted fake bar.
In my country, "old", poured, 1kg silver bars are really popular. New ones have 21% VAT, but old ones can be had at spot plus a minor premium. Short supply only. NEVER does anyone see a drill-tested low cost kilo bar. And even if they knew how to test silver with a magnet (most private investors actually have no clue at all), a silver sized kilo bar to my knowledge is too thick to know whether of not there is a copper or brass core inside. Can gold be tested, even to a degree, with a magnet?
Just came across your video. I also buy gold and precious metals. Came across a counterfeit Perth Bar 1oz today at work, hence me leading me to here. I also have a XRF...Niton XL2 which is most helpful. I noticed you do not use the graph on yours when analyzing. Anyways, I subscribed to you to learn more as I cannot 100% rely on technology and not always around nitric acid. Very informative, thank you.
