Thread: Fake gold bars turn up in Manhattan

http://www.myfoxny.com/story/1957820...p-in-manhattan

Hey... it's no different than the tungsten filled bars residing in Ft. Knox, so there shouldn't be a problem.

Wow........just WoW. Thanks for posting!


Ebay here I come............as you see me running away.

One of the reasons i stay away from bars or even large denominations of gold coins.

Here is the main problem IMO,

Ibrahim Fadl bought the bar from a merchant who has sold him real gold before.

Why didn't he buy from the manufacturer with safe delivery? Probably thought he was getting a " Killer rip" deal. Not unlike many who show up here with eBay and Craiglist look-alikes. And why did he drill these bars only IMO.

Good reason to only collect gold coins, even 1/10th in size.

What's scary is there are companies who will just make the fakes for you. Buy in China, sell on ebay.

Anyone need a tungsten-filled, gold-plated Krugerrand?

http://www.tungsten-alloy.com/tungst...gold-coin.html

Originally Posted by odhinn

Anyone need a tungsten-filled, gold-plated Krugerrand?

It's a shame that the US allows these websites to be viewed by anyone and anyone here can buy those fakes. They are fakes from China so the US should do all we can to discourage the sale by not allowing their websites to show here in the US. Obviously China is trying to screw us any way they can so the US should be blocking their citizens from taking advantage of our citizens. jmho

Originally Posted by fretboard

It's a shame that the US allows these websites to be viewed by anyone and anyone here can buy those fakes. They are fakes from China so the US should do all we can to discourage the sale by not allowing their websites to show here in the US. Obviously China is trying to screw us any way they can so the US should be blocking their citizens from taking advantage of our citizens. jmho

What about censorship?
Don't China block website on the internet from their people now?

How would doing what you suggest make us any different from what China is doing with the internet and censorship?

Originally Posted by appliancejunk

How would doing what you suggest make us any different from what China is doing with the internet and censorship?

Personally I don't care about how we look if it helps to keep their counterfeits out of the US.

Originally Posted by fretboard

Good reason to only collect gold coins, even 1/10th in size.

IMO i think it is best to stick with non bullion'. Cost of retooling and make a counterfeit for different design is time consuming process and requires trial and error so they would stick with issues' that are mass produced in millions'. So commemorative silver or gold issues' with limited mintage should be the safe buys.

Originally Posted by fretboard

Personally I don't care about how we look if it helps to keep their counterfeits out of the US.

I agree something should be done, but I don't think censorship is the answer.

Tungsten can not be readily cast into bars due to its high melting temperature, so is chemically produced in a powdered form which is molded using adhesives or lesser dense metals. This powdered form ( not being a continuous piece such as melted/cooled gold alloy) and being separated by a low density adhesive reacts very differently to wave form transmission than a solid gold alloy. The larger bars in commodity exchange and supposedly in government storage have probably been checked often as the equipment does not have to be overly complicated and expensive, but not common either. It is on the level of a doppler scan device. If the necessity increases, there will be a laptop device. Theoretically ( I have not researched this), if a "ping" of the object is fed into a microphone and audio editing program, there should be a difference in waveform between a gold bar and a gold plated tungsten bar. AIMO.

Jim

Originally Posted by appliancejunk

I agree something should be done, but I don't think censorship is the answer.

Yeah, I don't know the real answer to the problem all I have is an opinion. My guess is Congress would have to do something about it but priorities are messed up on that front. I guess Congress only sees this as a problem for con collectors but they are wrong.

Originally Posted by desertgem

Tungsten can not be readily cast into bars due to its high melting temperature, so is chemically produced in a powdered form which is molded using adhesives or lesser dense metals. This powdered form ( not being a continuous piece such as melted/cooled gold alloy) and being separated by a low density adhesive reacts very differently to wave form transmission than a solid gold alloy. The larger bars in commodity exchange and supposedly in government storage have probably been checked often as the equipment does not have to be overly complicated and expensive, but not common either. It is on the level of a doppler scan device. If the necessity increases, there will be a laptop device. Theoretically ( I have not researched this), if a "ping" of the object is fed into a microphone and audio editing program, there should be a difference in waveform between a gold bar and a gold plated tungsten bar. AIMO.

Jim

Jim, can't you also do simple test for its conductivity (magnetic slide for example) since tungsten is less conductive than Gold? Granted you need to genuine deal to compare your results with.

Also what is typical cost of manufacturing tunsten?