When buying silver off places such as silverstackers and gumtree do people usually ask for proof of purchase as part of their transaction, to verify that the silver being sold to them is sourced from a reputable source/dealer? I'm asking because a lot of the PM products and bars can be easily faked and there no way really to verify the content of bars unless you have them chemically tested or assayed. Also if I buy from someone in the forum - say a private sale wouldn't it be extremely hard for me to resell my silver later because I wouldn't of had poof of purchase from a known dealer? So can anyone offer any advice from those experienced in silver transactions and the pitfalls?
You just have to make sure to purchase from reputable people with good reviews and you should be okay. I guess you could do a bill of sale for large purchases if you are face to face. You can verify several other non evasive ways too like weighing the bars and measuring the size and testing if it has a negative field on a magnet.
Members in the forum are not allow to sell fake stuff/ replica coins in buy, sell and trade section. So the answer is no. When buy from ebay/ gumtree, you are generally expose to risk. Unless you know them as. Bullion dealers that you knows.
What's a "negative field on a magnet" test? I usually weigh the item and I would expect a weight slightly higher than the claimed weight. Every fake I've tested has failed this test. I sometimes then weigh it again in water to get the specific gravity and expect it to be within 0.5. I've also noticed that a very small rare earth magnet will sometimes slightly stick to non ferrous fakes. I'm not sure why this occurs and I guess it's the bonding material they use to adhere gold/silver to copper or whatever it's made of.
If you can fake a silver bar, faking a receipt isn't going to be hard. Hell, you could just buy 1 real coin and photocopy the receipt.
Silver is not magnetic but it creates a negative magnetic field(I think that is what it is called) so you can feel a pull or resistance when you bring the magnet close to the coin or bar. If it is a large bar a magnet will slide down it slowly even though it doesn't stick. Depending on the metal used fake coins and bars do not react atall to a magnet. You will feel nothing when you bring a magnet towards it and the magnet will slide off super fast. And obviously if the magnet sticks your bar is fake aswell.
I have an extremely large and powerful rare earth magnet and I can't get any of my silver to react with it (unless the Perth Mint and BiGs are selling fakes). But all my copies have either a very slight or strong attraction to a powerful magnet. This sounds like it's the opposite of the above?
What's a "negative field on a magnet" test? I believe it is inductive reactance. ( spelling?) Basically silver is the best conductor, as a moving magnetic field passes over the silver a electric current is induced which results in a magnetic field within the silver item this reacts with the magnet. Please note that the field is only created when a moving magnetic field passes over it, into it or out of it In responce to the orginal op question. I ask sellers where did they buy the silver they are selling. Often they still have the receipt.
Sorry I'm poor at explaining, its like dollars said. Its why this silver detecting device"The slide" works [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eV24um6SxAI[/youtube]
All metals create an electric current when a magnet passes nearby, but silver is one of the best conductors of electricity, and maybe they're using this principle for "The Slide" tester in the video.
No never... Stay classy and keep in good stead with classy traders with high ethics... The type of info would likely show price, your address, the price you paid and date... Just no The only exception would be the 2008 ABC bars that were produced to such a low standard that they are now infamous ... Reasoning was due to mass silver bar shortage and the wait times blew out massively... So a terribly poured bar with an invoice showing approx pickup date of 14 weeks for a normal kilo bar is something worth having as prominence For everything else bullion is bullion and only the femme fatales wants Coa.. The perth mint proof collector type.. A poof 1for1