Hmm, I thought ultrasonic thickness test is only for larger silver bars? Seems like coins would be too thin for them to test?
Please check other sources, but I think ultrasound is ok from 2 mm to 200 mm. But again, please check
Ultrasonic doesn't work well on coins - the variation in relief is is greater than the range that a fake vs genuine coin would return, and you really need a good contact for the transducer to get an accurate reading. Wouldn't bother with it. XRF works fine on such thin items.
Have not heard from OTIS. Don't think we'll hear from him on this forum again. Negative feedback left.
Didn't you know Otis works for Lex Luthor? :lol: [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtJbk7qJkug[/youtube] [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCozlQMePaU[/youtube]
I had the privilege of renting one of these from a member on another forum and proceeded to "verify" my 350 ounces of silver and my miniscule amount of gold . Found out of 350 ounces two were fake and one of the fakes I got the seller to refund my cash were the other one ounce I was stuck with the sinker making material. My gold was all good. Not bad. But the one thing that I would look for in spotting fakes is the amount of cameo present on the round or bar and if the field of the item is quite mirrored. Those are red flag signs for me. Just saying.
Unfortunately this event only reinforced my opinion why I prefer to get my silver from places like Goldstackers and Goldbuyers in Melbourne.
So, I'm just curious if anyone knows the metal used in fake silver? I know tungsten is used for fake gold as the densities match. I am wondering if you could perform simple, easy to do tests like seeing how fast ice melts on it, listening to the ring it makes, etc. when it looks like silver and weighs as much as it's supposed to, yes a professional device would be nice but I wonder if these simple methods of detection would be enough. I would think simply comparing the ring of a fake buffalo to a real one would at the very least give you an idea if something is off or not. Or maybe I'm just being cheap
Ringing is definitely a good test - although I have not compared between a real and fake coin, the silver ring is very particular.
If you are going to go by the noise test then it would be good to have a fake silver coin on hand to compare it too. Perhaps you could ask to buy one of monopolize's fake coins if he wants to sell any?
Its sad that this happens but you can never stop it only minimize it. I see OTIS last posted on the 2014-08-16 @ 10:15:41 Is he still yet to get back to you about the fake silver? Worse case, if he didn't realise that it was fake silver atleast get in contact wit the buyer and take it from there but the fact if he's not responding to msg's/txt's then this make him look/seem guilty IMO. How many of you out there test each coin or silver bar you buy for an SS forum member??? Cheers, HAPPY STACKING