Silver Bar in Airport X-Ray Scanner

Discussion in 'Silver' started by jasonsantoso777, May 4, 2015.

  1. jasonsantoso777

    jasonsantoso777 New Member

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    How is silver bar in airport x ray scanner? Some says that all metal colors will appear black in x ray machine. But is it true for silver too?

    I mean will silver bar color in x ray appears the same with another metals such as gold, copper, steel, iron etc?
    Silver density is about 10 g/cm3 while it's closest metal partner in density is steel, which is roughly 7-8 g/cm3

    The reason I'm asking this is that I am afraid customs officer in my home country will get suspicious if they detect something out of the ordinary in their x ray machine after I take my luggage in the arrival terminal.

    Thanks,
    Jason
     
  2. House

    House Well-Known Member Silver Stacker

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    It'll be fine. Plenty here have travelled domestically and internationally with silver. Easiest way is to pre-empt the suspicion and ask for a private screening so you can explain what it is.

    What countries are you travelling to and from?
     
  3. jasonsantoso777

    jasonsantoso777 New Member

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    I am from Indonesia and travelling to USA. Planning to buy 100 oz of silver bullion.

    The problem is that Indonesian custom officer often get suspicious for anything out of the ordinary, even at its slightest.
    If they do, usually they will ask for bribes or force us to pay taxes that actually we shouldn't.

    Have anyone here have been travelled to Indonesia and carrying gold or silver?

    Thanks
     
  4. FNQsilver

    FNQsilver Member

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    I once took a small amount of gold from Kalimantan and cleared customs in Oz at Cairns, no issues taking it out at the Indo side, asked a few questions at Oz side.

    You may be right though, I have seen customs asking people for "tax duty" at Denpasar when bringing things in, not PM's but I am sure they would try it on.
     
  5. adrenalin

    adrenalin New Member

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    Silver shows up Black in the x-ray machines.
    Gold shows up Yellow in the x-ray machines.

    How do I know this... I was nosey enough to look whilst it was going through the x-rays.
     
  6. adrenalin

    adrenalin New Member

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    I did get stopped in Sydney Airport carrying some 10oz Lunar Coins through the x-ray machines.
    They asked what is was. I said it was silver coins. They wanted me to open the capsule. I said no.
    Just look at it from outside the capsule. I guess they must of thought it looked like a land mine shape.

    I know a mate that got stopped carrying a glass pineapple souvenir. They thought it was a hand grenade.

    Another time got stopped carrying some Full 100gm Gold Valcambi Bars. They just looked at it and let me go through.

    These stoppages were all from domestic traveling.

    Traveling internationally I didn't have any problems when checking-in the luggage with the bullion items.
     
  7. Oldsoul

    Oldsoul New Member

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    I got my bag pulled from an airport scanner in the EU specifically for a few (3or 4) silver coins. There were many other things in it but the scanner operator was specifically interested to know what this disks were. Normally no problem though.
     
  8. Niveka

    Niveka New Member

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    Man, I don't think I could trust my bullion to checked baggage....
     
  9. Beyond

    Beyond Well-Known Member

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    i always take 25kg silver and gold coins to anywhereall no pro
    maybe some country customs are very strict
     
  10. Niveka

    Niveka New Member

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    Did I understand you correctly, that you take 25 kilos with you wherever you go? Just curious why you would do that, seems like allot of work. Also, how much to you tip the skycap?
     
  11. Phiber

    Phiber Well-Known Member Silver Stacker

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    Why would anyone go through so much hassle when they can buy the silver at their destination instead.
     
  12. whinfell

    whinfell Well-Known Member Silver Stacker

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    The OP is from Indonesia - I've seen a thread on here previously about the difficulty of buying bullion in Indonesia.
     
  13. BigSteve

    BigSteve New Member Silver Stacker

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    My immediate thought was which airports scan baggage on arrivals... Denpasar was one of the few I have seen. They don't do a body check though - so maybe transfer to a pocket(s) at that point?
     
  14. l***g

    l***g Well-Known Member Silver Stacker

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    If your 'gold' shows up yellow, it's not gold.
    In the modern tri-colour machines yellow to orange is for organics, blue to black for metals, green for some plastic (or metal and organic overlapping).

    Edit - http://snallabolaget.com/?page_id=666
     
  15. PeterS

    PeterS Member

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    It made me wonder how it would be putting smaller bullion coins in a coin pouch with ordinary change. I suppose any capsules would show though.
     
  16. jasonsantoso777

    jasonsantoso777 New Member

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    Here in Indonesia there are many gold bullion dealers but it is very hard to find silver bullion dealers. Even if they sell silver, their price markup is very high. I have seen an Indonesian popular precious metal dealer who sells silver bullion 50% over the spot price. Most Indonesian people don't feel familiar with silver.
     
  17. SilverTabbyCat

    SilverTabbyCat New Member

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    I wasn't aware x-rays reflect color at all.

    That's for fancy visible light.
     
  18. whinfell

    whinfell Well-Known Member Silver Stacker

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    They don't - it's false-colour imaging, where different colours are applied to objects of different density.

    See for example: http://snallabolaget.com/?page_id=666
     

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