More on those tungsten bars Nemo reported last night.
With this now verified to really be occurring, I imagine sellers will need to develop tests to verify the authenticity of the gold they sell. I would imagine that the specific gravity of bars and coins could distinguish between pure gold and a mixture. Maybe an electrical conductivity test could be devised. If worst came to worst, reputable sellers could always melt down and re-form the bars. That's not really an option for coins, though, since the numismatic value of the coins would be lost.
I'm sure that SOMETHING can be done.
Fake gold bars turn up in Manhattan
Posted: Sep 18, 2012 7:11 PM EDT
By TI-HUA CHANG, Fox 5 News Reporter
MYFOXNY.COM - In jewelry stores on 47th Street and Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, the important trust between merchants has been violated. A 10-ounce gold bar costing nearly $18,000 turned out to be a counterfeit.
The bar was filled with tungsten, which weighs nearly the same as gold but costs just over a dollar an ounce.
Ibrahim Fadl bought the bar from a merchant who has sold him real gold before. But he heard counterfeit gold bars were going around, so he drilled into several of his gold bars worth $100,000 and saw gray tungsten -- not gold.
What makes it so devious is a real gold bar is purchased with the serial numbers and papers, then it is hollowed out, the gold is sold, the tungsten is put in, then the bar is closed up. That is a sophisticated operation.
Full article and video here: http://www.myfoxny.com/story/19578206/fake-gold-bars-turn-up-in-manhattan
Gold is $1,581/oz today. When it hits $2,000, it will be up 26.5%. Let's see how long that takes. - De 3/11/2013 - ANSWER: 7 Years, 5 Months
| 
