Just wondering if there is any new info on these. I believe 400 million ounces were "created" and given to the Chicoms when they demanded their part of the gold stored at Ft. Knox, which was... 400 million ounces. Is this what happened? I checked on cointalk but did not see any current threads about this.
It is a hoax story, besides a simple ultrasonic scan will give it away. http://gold-quote.net/en/articles/fake-tungsten-gold-bars.php http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FvM_4B7Pkc
Yeah, when you're dealing with that kind of quantity and that much money, I don't think anybody would be that foolish to even try to fool anybody. There would be no fooling anybody. The buyer wouldn't take somebody's word on it, even if everything was legit. Even over a much lesser amount than that. It would be scanned or re-refined and discovered immediately.
This rumor has floated around the Internet for several years. Supposedly it originated by someone who claimed to have delivered the tungsten bars to the Ft. Knox army base. He even had an invoice for the bars. This occurred during the Clinton administration years. Supposedly these bars where then encased in a layer of molten gold which would reduce the amount of gold in the bars considerably. It's a difficult process that requires skill and sophisticated equipment. Then, these gold reduced bars were used by the Clintonites to settle accounts with the communists in China though this detail was never really explained. It was assumed the financial details were not meant for the public. The bars were accepted by the Chinese as they passed all the routine assay tests. Account settled. However subsequent testing by the PRC, revealed the tungsten. They were hopping mad about it but due to the nature of the transaction couldn't do anything about it. Slick Willy strikes again. To this day, nobody has ever produced one of these bars. Supposedly one turned up in Bulgaria (or one of those small countries around there) but no proof was ever given.
Of course it's true. Just a little pay back to our Chinese friends for flooding the numismatic market with their "replicas"...
Huh? it is just same info that is also found in Seeking alpha article on tungsten fakes' (that is commercial site so can't link that).
For what it's worth, here is the article I have referred to in the past on this. http://news.goldseek.com/GoldSeek/1258049769.php
I personally know for a fact that this portion of the article is true, though I am not at liberty to divulge how or why I know: "640,000 of these tungsten blanks received their gold plating and WERE shipped to Ft. Knox and remain there to this day"
That would certainly explain why an audit is out of the question. Unfortunately as much as I'd like to take your word for it, I simply cannot. I can't even take goldseek's word for it, but I do find it quite plausible. Plausible enough that should I ever become rich enough to afford a 400 oz gold bar, like that will ever happen, I will avoid them and stick to coins.
