Do fake Krugerrands and Maple Leaves have any value?

Discussion in 'Bullion Investing' started by JBIrish, Oct 26, 2012.

  1. JBIrish

    JBIrish New Member

    Some time ago I inherited a few Krugerrand 1oz coins and a few Mapple Leaf 1 50 dollar coins. I took them to a friend Jeweler, and much to my distress they weighed between 20 and 22 grams each - so they are certainly extremely underweight and fake. He also put some chemical on them, and the spot that reacted with the chemical turned greenish - he said they are certainly not pure gold either.

    The question is, can I identify if they are gold at all (10k, 14k, 18k) or just some cheap metal? And can I get any kind of money for them if they turn out say 14k gold?

    Thanks in advance.
     
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  3. jolumoga

    jolumoga Active Member

    Have you weighed them yourself? Dealers are notorious for undergrading coins. I have not heard of that many 1 ounce fakes. I know there is tungsten in kilo and 10 ounce bars. It seems to me with 1 ounce coins it would be so much easier to detect fakes.

    You might want to invest in a kit for yourself, so you can be sure of your own results. I have seen kids getting underpaid right in front of me with coins they inherited.

    If it turns out they have gold but are of less than standard purity, maybe you can work something out with a dealer. The only problem is, they grossly underpay most of the time, even with legitimate coins.
     
  4. Dennis68

    Dennis68 Member

    you can buy a cheap gold testing kit on ebay,or amazon for around $10. they come with different stregnth acids for different karrot gold. they do not turn colors,but rather dissolve the scratch on the stone left by the fake stuff.
     
  5. JBIrish

    JBIrish New Member

    Yep, I actually heave precision scale, and I weighted them (I have six total) and they are between 20-22 grams.
     
  6. Dennis68

    Dennis68 Member

    or better yet take them somewhere that tests electronnically, make sure they do it on the edge of the coin.scratching will kill any collector value if they are real
     
  7. jolumoga

    jolumoga Active Member

    OK, if there is a way for you to determine the purity, maybe you can work something out with a dealer. What you might want to do is shop around for prices and see if any one of them wants to buy coins that may have SOME gold. The only problem here is, unfortunately, it's a loss either way because whoever gave it to you got scammed. I hope you can get something out of it.
     
  8. jolumoga

    jolumoga Active Member

    Let me emphasize that it doesn't matter, at least in theory, whether the coins are 10k, 14k or 24k. In theory, the coins can be refined and the gold extracted. The key is determining purity to make sure you aren't scammed.
     
  9. desertgem

    desertgem Senior Errer Collecktor

    The various gold alloys will have different specific gravities.General range, as exact range will need to know if alloyed with silver or copper.

    24ct Pure Gold SpGr = 19.32 ( 19.32 grams per cubic centimeter)
    18ct Gold Alloy- SpGr = ~15 to ~17 (red golds near the lower end, white golds near the upper)
    14ct Gold Alloy- SpGr = ~12.9 to ~14.
    9-10ct Gold Alloy- SpGr = ~10.9 - 12.7
     
  10. JBIrish

    JBIrish New Member

    Am I allowed to post pictures here? I'd like to upload some photos of the coins and link them here.
     
  11. jjack

    jjack Captain Obvious

    Using a guide i wrote earlier:

    2. Magnet test. (Simply enough pass a strong neodymium magnet over the coin to see if its magnetic).

    If it magnetic chances are it has 0% gold.

    3. Verify the measurements of the coin and weight of the coin. You can use a caliphr and jewelers' scale for this purpose.

    You can use these dimension along with weight to calculate the coin's density which could allow you to determine what metal it is. If it over is 13 g/cm^3 you know it has some gold content....
     
  12. JBIrish

    JBIrish New Member

    These are some pictures of 2 coins - one Krugerrand, and one Maple Leaf.

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  13. JBIrish

    JBIrish New Member

    From what I see online, both coins are roughly correct in size, but severely underweight. I'm worried that they are just cheap copper alloy with no gold content. :(
     
  14. jjack

    jjack Captain Obvious

    For the leaf I got volume of 2.48 cm^3. 20 grams/2.48 = 8 g/cm^3
     
  15. JBIrish

    JBIrish New Member

    8g/cm^3 is brass according to google. Ouch.
     
  16. jolumoga

    jolumoga Active Member

  17. LostDutchman

    LostDutchman Under Staffed & Overly Motivated Supporter

    They are not genuine and contain only a thin coating of gold. I have seen examples of these before. A green fizz on the acid test indicates copper or brass... Sad to say they are worthless.
     
  18. jjack

    jjack Captain Obvious

    The volume is likely a little over due to reeding so there should be tolerance of around +20%.
     
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