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The best care for golden and silver coins
Rolf van Zanten4 December 2024
General knowledge
How you can test your gold and silver for authenticity yourself
Autor: Daan Wesdorp
Date: 13 May 2020
Update: 13 May 2020 Reading time: 7 min
How to test the authenticity of your gold and silver yourself
It is every investor's or investor's nightmare: your precious metal turns out to be fake and therefore worthless! Especially with gold coins or bars, the damage can be severe. Fortunately, there are several ways to test gold and silver before actually buying.
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Visuele controle
Fake or gold-plated gold often shows changes in colour around the edges. Pure gold does not oxidise, so no colour changes should occur.
If you know the size/diameter of a particular bar or coin, you can check whether it is real gold based on a simple weight test. Most gold coins are minted in 1 troy ounce, which is equivalent to 31.103 grams.
When you buy coins from well-known coin producers, you will always be able to find exactly how much the coin is supposed to weigh. In addition, coins from recognised producers have standard dimensions. With a caliper test, you can measure the thickness of your bullion coins. If any of the measurements differ, you will know it is a fake coin.
Noise
With gold coins, you can also tell whether you are dealing with real or fake gold by the sound. If you place the coin in the middle of your fingertip and tap it with another coin, you will hear a long, high-pitched tone with pure gold. If the tone is short and low, you are definitely not dealing with pure gold. Some coins, like the golden Maple Leaf, do not produce a high and long tone because the gold in these coins is very pure (99.99%). A different testing method is more suitable for these coins.
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Magnet
Precious metals are not magnetic. You can use a strong magnet to test whether you are dealing with real gold or silver. If coins or bars do react to the magnet, it is abundantly clear that they are not pure gold or silver.
Ceramic plate
If a gold coin or bar leaves a black trace if pulled over an unglazed ceramic plate, it is fake gold. However, this method of testing can damage your coins or bars. Besides, this testing method also does not improve the quality of your ceramic plates.
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Density test
The Archimedes test is a density test. Since there are very few metals that have a density higher than gold (19.3 g./ml.), measuring the density of the coin or bar is a useful tool to determine whether it is real gold or silver. The result is easy to interpret: the higher the density, the more pure the gold.
Nitric acid test
If a drop of nitric acid leaves a mark on the surface, we are talking about fake gold or silver. If in doubt, you can make a small scratch in the precious metal to see if the nitric acid still causes the surface to change colour. However, this test is not recommended as nitric acid is very corrosive. Besides, you don't want to damage your precious metal unnecessarily.
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Reputable company
Finally, buy your bullion from reputable companies. It regularly happens that people are misinformed or even scammed through Marketplace or similar sites. In that case, one is sent a worthless piece of metal, while sometimes large amounts have been paid in advance. Afterwards, the culprit is often untraceable. It is definitely worth getting information or advice from a specialised organisation with knowledge and expertise.
The major coin houses do everything they can to use certain techniques to distinguish the real silver and gold coins and bars from the counterfeit variants. For example, the silver Maple Leaf 2016, minted by the Royal Canadian Mint, feature a new security emblem in the shape of a maple leaf. This security emblem is lasered into the coin and therefore very difficult to imitate.
In addition, it is always good to check online reviews and see how long the company has been around.
Ultrasound test
Using an ultrasound test, experts can test how long it takes for sound to pass through materials. Since sound passes through certain materials at different speeds, this can be used to determine whether the product is real or fake. Another advanced test is an acid test. However, with this there is a chance of damaging your precious metal so it is not recommended.
Ice cube test
Finally, there is a test specifically for silver. Silver is the best conductor of thermal energy. If you place an ice cube on a silver coin or bar, it should melt immediately because it is placed on something hot.
Note standard markings with gold bars
Gold bars are always marked with various elements. For example, genuine gold bars bear the producer's logo, the purity of the gold, the weight and, in some cases, a serial number. If any of these items are missing or noted in a different way, it could well be that the gold bar is fake.
Weight test for purity products
You can also test the purity of gold and silver products using a scale and a cup of water.
Weigh your precious metal on an accurate scale and record the weight. Then put a bowl or cup of water on the scale and set the scale back to 0. Ideally, you should use distilled water for this.
Next, lower your precious metal into the water without it touching the bottom and note the weight. Now divide the first weight by the second weight. If the product is pure silver, the result should be 10.49 (grams). If the product is of pure gold, the result should be 19.32 (grams).
How can you be sure that your precious metal is real
Conclusion
The Silver Mountain has been providing online sales of precious metal products in a safe and transparent manner since 2008. We also have an AFM licence, which means that the Financial Markets Authority supervises the reliability of our investment products. All our products come from recognised producers and in many cases come with a certificate of authenticity. If you have any questions or would like advice on the authenticity of products, you can always contact us.
Disclaimer: The Silver Mountain does not provide investment advice and therefore this article should not be considered as such. Past results offer no guarantees for the future.
Over Daan Wesdorp
Manager Inkoop Edelmetaal | Stocks, cryptocurrencies and precious metals
Nederlands