Fake Gold Bar Tester ( 10g Baird & Co.)

[omedterry]

i bet it came from fort Knox

[omedterry]

i bet it came from fort knox

[ghostdevill]

Worthless tool!!! Many people before me have said some really good things!!!

[ikawpipa]

who cares?!? .. i don't have money to buy gold

[TiNk0O]

All u have to do is see if it bends.....i know it sounds crazy and it would mess up the looks of your bar..but honestly if u know anything about gold u would know even 23 carat gold bends!!! u can bend it using your teeth but you dont need to, u can easily bend it with ur hands....i dont mind bending just a little corner of a 1 g, 5g even a 1 troy oz bar to see if its real or not.....if one is real then hopefully the rest are too, HOPEFULLY......gold is not suppose to BREAK...it BENDS

[emeengor2]

what stops the counterfeter to buy this exact cheap metal thing and ajust his fake coldbar to meet this requirments? lol I mean its useless

[theguvnorjimmy]

Havent ever heard of any fakes from Baird and Co. They seem very good.

[inkey2]

so how does this tell you if its fake? or purity?

[Individualism101]

It doesn't. It just tells you if its a heavy metal or not. Lead or tungsten would probably pass.

[ToyMaster83]

@Individualism101 no it doesnt just tell you if it is a heavy metal. Gold has a higher specific gravity than lead or tungsten or any other common metal thats less expensive than gold. the dimensional pins and the weight tipping ascertain it is the correct size to have one ounce that matches the specific gravity of gold. x amount of weight per cm cubed. a lead piece that fit in both the two sets of pins would not be heavy enough to tip the gauge.

[Individualism101]

@ToyMaster83 That's my point. It's just a crude density test. If you mixed up a couple of heavy metals such that the approximate density was that of gold, then that metal would pass this test.

[Diametrac]

This method of testing is at the best a rough pretest. However, certainly of no value for testing on a commercial level.

Sorry - did not pass.

[sphinxrising58]

Well short of smelting the entire object, the easiest way to see if it is real gold is the acid test, which I already pointed out most people use, as it is not like it takes rocket sience to understand that explanation unless you are somewhat slow on the intake?

[TriumphRock]

this is definitely NOT a good way to see if gold is free of Tungsten. Reason is that tungsten is HEAVIER than Gold. Tungsten being 1224PCF as compared to Gold's 1204PCF. This scale will definitely tip if there's any metal present that's even heavier.

If you can calculate the Volume of the Gold bar ACCURATELY, (using vernier caliper maybe) you can check it against it's unit weight of 1204PCF.

you guys know another way it can be checked?

[sphinxrising58]

acid.

[TriumphRock]

that'll only test the surface.

[sphinxrising58]

No, as most people that know what they are doing will scratch through the surface & then do the acid test, as most people that buy gold are not that stupid to buy a pig in the polk sight unseen, or untested.

[TriumphRock]

well that means you don't know if there's any other way to test gold - my original question.

[inkey2]

sphinxrising58: unfortunately I think there are plenty of stupid people who buy gold....the stupid ones are the novice's who are just getting in on the gold band wagon. As a prime example of stupidity....I can' tell you how many people I have known in my life that have bought those scam commorative little coins and bars from TV ads that have vague names like "The American Mint Co". The ads boast that they are pure gold " coated or clad etc."

[herohumper]

Not all bar are the same shape.

[TeamLibertyExpress]

Lead is very heavy/dense, malleable and cheap too.

[TriumphRock]

No. Lead is only ~710 pounds per cu-ft. Gold is 1204PCF. Lead is nowhere near gold's weight.

[etraise]

Here's another suggestion: Why not make copper-tungsten alloy coins?

[NZwingtamer]

Tungsten could be used as the core of a fake coin or bar. Many modern coins have an iron core, which has a thick electroplated coating of either nickel or copper applied before they are minted in to coins. This method could be used with a tungsten core and a thick electroplated layer of gold. Tungsten has a SG of 19.25 and the SG of Gold is 19.35 so the size and weight will be almost identical, the best simple test is to see if it is attracted to a magnet, as Tungsten is slightly paramagnetic.

[TriumphRock]

SG for Tungsten= 19.62

SG of Gold= 19.29

Tungsten is Heavier not lighter.

[mindrapeart]

that's no good if it's gold plated tungsten.

[Catuxalina51488B]

@mindrapeart

True. Tungsten weighs as much per cubic centimeter as gold does.

[iamacyborg]

It seems like you could fake the weight on a gold bar by using 2 metals on the interior, one heavier than gold and one lighter - and then just mixing them such that the combined weight is equal to that of gold per unit of volume.

[simplemime]

This would be difficult as gold is one of the most dense metals. The metals that are more dense are either 1) already more expensive (platinum) or 2) too brittle to form into coins and bars (osmium)

[odin422]

smart guy

[etraise]

wrong, you forget tungsten is about the same density as gold, and thousands of times cheaper

[simplemime]

Please notice reason number 2 in my first comment.

Tungsten is a very hard and brittle metal at room temperature, and is consequently unsuitable for coinage. I am told that the US mint tried to make some patterns using tungsten. The dies did not make much of an impression.

[BowlingFreak218]

@simplemime tungsten is the same density as gold to something like a thousandth of a gram

[Timb0NZ]

@simplemime gold plated lead?

[residentzombie]

You can also use a magnet. Gold has no magnetic pull to it.

[vapor238]

Excellent. Now, where do I get one?

[rynlnk]

You could just buy a scale and a ruler, and look up the dimensions