I apologize for my ignorance. I intend to purchase some 1 oz gold(s) in a distant future when the price drops a bit. But I am somehow worry for counterfeiting. I would never buy from ebay. And I know a reputable dealer. But can a reputable dealer assure me that a certain Maple, Eagle, Krugerrand or Philhamonika is genuine 100% without any doubt? Would acid-test and X-Ray analyze give a guarantee of 100% that any of these coins are genuine? Thank you for any help you can provide.
Go with a reputable dealer, and you can get those gold coins like the canadian gold maples with laser etching. I believe it's from 2014 onwards.
An acid test will permanently mark your coin or bar so I would highly recommend NOT using that test on anything that has any sort of finish or numismatic value!
There's no 100% guarantees unless you buy directly from a reputable mint or refiner. However, buying from a dealer is very much safer than other places and you can be fairly sure that if you ever do get a dud from the dealer he will quickly provide a refund or genuine replacement.
How about the X-ray analyze thing? Does it sound familiar to you? Does it give a 100% certain answer when it analyzes a maple leaf 1 oz gold? Sorry if I and my approach sound dumb.
I don't think anything can be 100% guaranteed, but XRF analyzers are routinely used by dealers to check coins and bars. See: http://forums.silverstackers.com/topic-60495-xrf-testing-100-accurate.html If you were to combine XRF testing with a Precious Metals Verifier (PMV), see http://forums.silverstackers.com/topic-54495-new-weapon-against-the-flood-of-counterfeits.html would give you a good level of assurance that it was genuine.
Not a dumb question at all. XRF is a standard test, but it's not 100%. It still has trouble identifying fakes with a very thick layer of gold.
Buy cast gold bars. If it is cut open to replace gold with tungsten then this is obvious. The casting marks show the interference. PS Yes, you can buy 1oz cast bars.
