I know little to nothing about coins. So I would like to know how can you tell if Bullion: Silver - American Eagle(1.00 oz.) as well as 100oz. bars are made of real silver? This goes for Gold as well. Any help would be appreciated.
There are only two ways that I know of to be sure you have a real bullion coin: 1) Submit it to an assayer to scientifically test the metal and accurately weigh it. This will normally result in significant damage to the coin, as scrapings will have to be taken and submitted to chemical tests. 2) Buy from a reputable source which guarantees the genuineness of the coins you are buying, such as the mint or an established dealer.
All bullion coins offered by a government will state the weight and finess of the content. Silver Eagles are 1 ounce of silver at .9993 pure. Silver bars also have the assay mark that gives weight and finess.
I read Atomz' question as being how to be sure you don't have a counterfeit, not whether genuine items have the stipulated content. "Offered by a government" is a major distinction. Some of the private mints, which may or may not be as trustworthy as the government mints, also produce silver rounds and bars inscribed with a stated weight and fineness. Of course those are strictly investment items, whereas government bullion coins do have at least a touch of "collectible" status/value.
ATOMZ the silver eagle is probably real...I don't think I've seen any counterfeits lately. The 100 oz bar could be real...could be fake. Please provide some more info...or post a photo. Exactly what does it say on the bar?
Thanks satootoko you are right I am wondering if they could be counterfeit. Maybe someone made them out of some alloy and made a mold of the original and just stamps the faces. Just curious to know what were the odds of fake silver bullion. tradernick I have not bought them yet but I have been offered quite a few lbs. of the coins and a few of the bricks. This is why I was wondering if there was a way I could tell. Maybe silver sinks and aluminum floats? That kind of weird voodoo science, or maybe someone knows what counterfeit ones usually look like. From what you guys have said so far I am lead to believe the odds are that they are probably real. Thanks for the replies its been much appreciated.
You can perform a Specific Gravity test if you have a scale that measures to the 1/100th of a gram. It's not terribly complicated. The formula is 3.1 x the sample's weight in water - 1.9 x it's weight in air. Silver has a SG of 10.5
You could also weigh the eagles on a gram scale. They should weigh 31.1 grams, or 20 pennyweights, or 1 troy oz. The only problem with 100 oz bars I've ever seen is that some of them were drilled from the sides then refilled with lead. Check the edges of the bars and look for circular marks where they could have been drilled then covered up with silver again. It's been pretty obvious on the ones I've seen, but I've only seen a couple of these in 10-12 years.
