Hi all, I recently got into silver stacking and I am curious about what different testing methods everybody uses. I have done some research and found several different methods and it seems that it is best to combine multiple methods to be sure. The most expensive but effective method from what I can tell is the testing machine called Sigma Metalytics. Curious how many people have gone done this route and think it is worth it? My plan is to do the following, any comments or feedback on this would be appreciated: - visual inspection - caliper measuring the diameter and width - weighing with a scale - using a rare earth magnet to do the 'slide' test - lastly doing the 'ping' test using the Bullion Test app on my phone As far as the ping test app goes I am wondering if people think it is effective and I found a few different apps on the Play Store. Are any of them more reputable than others? The one I am using is called Bullion Test and I believe it actually started on this forum. The other ones I saw were called Precious Coin Tester and Pingcoin. Just wondering if I am using the best app? Please let me know what you use and if these tests I have listed would be good for determining silver, from what I have seen the magnet test is effective but if I have been looking at the wrong resources please let me know. Thanks!
Ice is also good,best bet for a noob is buy from trusted sellers with lots of references,or buy from established bullion dealers,eg swan,abc,pm,bullion now,all equally trustworthy
I plan on buying from silvergoldbull but still wanted to do some tests just for fun and also to have more confidence.
ALL your questions have been done to death for the last 10 years. Do some searching to answer all your own questions . If your going to test everything you buy ,your going to piss people off . Do you really think large business's like you described are going to rip you off ? Get over it & just buy some physical
In a polite way what spanner is saying is ... use the search tab on here as there is over ten years worth of information about the very questions you are asking & welcome to the forum
I mention again if you just buying low premium RCM bar or maples , kitco offer $3-4 per oz discount to goldbull
I mostly buy from dealers or on this site, and this is mostly okay. If uncertain for 999 I use the scales and magnets as mentioned above and sometimes do a density test by weighing the item in air and water. Occasionally I get items XRF tested with my favorite bullion dealer. I have also detected a few fakes, but always got a refund for these.
You can google how to do a specific gravity test,basically what golden eye said,weigh in air and water
platinum = 21.45 gold = 19.32 91.7% gold (UK sovereign) = 17.62 90% gold (American Gold Eagle) = 17.31 silver = 10.50 92.5% silver (sterling silver) = 10.36 90% silver (Morgan or Peace S$1) = 10.32 copper = 8.94 Most chinese fakes = 8.5 These are theoretical numbers so give of take 1% or 2%
These densities are correct for the metals in their pure state, but once combined with other metals they will vary. Also, the most likely cause of errors will be the testing procedure, due to things such as impure water, equipment and operator errors.
Theoretical S.G. has generally matched in practice with good scales, mesh holding metals mass, adjusting for water density at higher room temp and using distilled water. It's just one of many tests required. It's very easy to fool one type of test but very hard to fool multiple types of tests.
