Just received an email from Scottsdale announcing their new triple security feature carded gold bars. https://youtu.be/U8G815r31tI
Also has coupon codes. These look cool, talking with buddy about possibly ordering some. Premium not too bad. Coupon Code CERTI to take $5.00 off any order over $250. Coupon Code LOCKED to take $10.00 off any order over $1000. Coupon Code GOLDEN to take $50.00 off any order over $5000. Expires 4/1/16
Or you can buy a gold Krug, Eagle, Kangaroo, etc, and not need any triple whammy security features. That is, assuming a person is familiar with what a real coin looks and feels like. Jim
Jim being in Australia I'm not buying them from the USA, just thought those that have recently expressed concern about products like this may find it interesting & or a viable option.
Dross, I think it is definitely an interesting development that they came out with these security features. But the fact that they have to do them in the first place tells me gold bars in general are not the best choice especially for newbies when you can get gov made coins that are easy to id as real. I didn't mean to "diss" you or your thread in any way. Sorry if I did. Jim
My Scottsdale emails always go to spam!! Glad I caught this one...well done product, really enjoyed the video. Great day to pick some up too....BTFD!!
Hey Jim, Fairly new to the stacking game here....What are you using to verify the gov't coins you buy? Cheap and easy?? Of course I like buying online bc you can find some nice deals, but I'm always wary when its an ebay buy for example...reason is there is stuff like this on there I just know it!! ..... http://www.aliexpress.com/item/50pc..._6&btsid=b7b9ad84-a26a-4378-b31b-9df7e434d9f3 Be nice if RCM came out with some some similar certilock packaging for maples
Off4shore, I was referring to buying in person where you can view and examine the coin first hand. The fakes of gov coins are bad compared to fake bars in cards. If a person gets enough knowledge of a particular kind of gov gold coin they will easily be able to spot a fake. If I ordered online from a US coin store I would still prefer gov made coins because the fakes of gov made coins look fake whereas fake bars in cards can look damn good. I would though assume anything I buy from a legit large operation here either bar or coin would be legit and not a fake. I don't like not being able to handle the bar outside the card. For that reason I don't buy slabbed coins much anymore although I used to buy a lot. I believe that someday when gold is up there in price it will be easier to sell a Krug or Eagle than with a carded bar, due to the many fake carded bars out there and more to come, but that is just my opinion. I know people who buy bars here to save a few bucks of premiums and I don't think it's worth it. Jim
No issue with your comments Jim. I think the first two levels of security could be gotten around enough by our crafty friends to fool the unsuspecting & the 3rd level "DNA to be verified by authorised dealers" is a way to ensure they are sold back to dealers to get their slice of the pie. Not really any use in person to person sales. Carded bars used to be fine, that was until the fakes started to appear & seeminly mints, Govts are powerless to stop it. I have some bought years ago before the issue arose from one of the bullion dealers on this forum but unless people are willing to take my word for that or are sold on the previso of having a dealer scan them after delivery & give the all clear i can see some wanting to avoid the hassle / risk.
Thanks for the comments Jim, I've bought a few items in person, but usually at a higher premium, which is ok I know those guys have overhead... Back on counterfeits,,I would imagine that fakes would continue to grow in circulation and quality as price increases?? Only makes sense if the price warrants the production of more and better fakes. I watched a special on counterfeits entering las vegas casinos about a month ago...I didn't really make the reference then, but the certilock technology makes a bit more sense now when applied to precious metals.. In the show you saw very good fakes of $25,000 chips, and the casinos were constantly in a race to imbed more layers of security, and essentially make it too difficult to replicate so counterfeiters would spend time elsewhere... so with gold moving higher why not apply the same principal of making the "medium/currency" as secure as possible??
They are spending what appears to be a lot of money on fraud prevention/authentication.....must mean that there's plenty of crooks spending lots of money trying to make and sell fakes that look like these products. Mints like the RCM have been incorporating sophisticated authentication measures into the actual coins themselves since 2014 as far as I recall. The ultra fine radial lines and the micro-engraved Canadian Maple Leaf as seen on this coins is but one of such measures: [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zv4ckPz9wgY[/youtube] This has now become my all time favorite bullion coin....the design, in my view, is superior to the ASE and to any Perth Mint bullion coin (and at 4 9's, more pure than most). Okay....I'm also prepared for the onslaught of "the RCM has milk spotting issues with their bullion coins". .
The deal with gold is that it has a very unique weight/density and making a counterfeit of the same size and weight is very difficult. The only 2 other metals that can be used to make convincing fakes on weight/density for gold is tungsten and platinum. For obvious reasons they won't be using platinum due to its cost, although there are some foreign counterfeits from the 1800s and probably earlier that used platinum in lieu of gold, since at that time platinum was cheap enough I suppose. As far as tungsten it is a very brittle metal and would be near impossible (from what I've read) to make into a coin that would look identical to the original mint coin. However for gold bars, tungsten is ideal and you would not have the same problems you do with making coins. The best counterfeits of gold coins are made using the exact metal content that they used in the real coin. This was done much on the pre 33 US gold coins for rare issues where the value far exceeded the metal price. At that point the coin would pass any tests as to whether it was real gold or not. So those handy gold testers would be worthless at that point. http://www.businessinsider.com/tungsten-filled-gold-bars-found-in-new-york-2012-9 Just my opinion. Jim
