I normally don't closely inspect bars, since they're just hunks of metal... but I have recently started noticing a lot of drilled/damaged Perth Mint bars, and one PAMP bar. One of the fellow SS members that sold me some of these bars claims that it was sold to them like this, and that it had come from someone else who had purchased them direct from the mint. At first glance, everything looks normal: But on closer inspection: Here's a slightly drilled PAMP: In the past I've never received any drilled or damaged bars with these marks - but in recent times have drill marks become the norm? What are your thoughts?
Good find! I haven't noticed that on any of my bars! I'll look closely next time I take one out of the deposit box.
Perth Mint & PAMP!. yennus, maybe you are sleep walking and drilling your bars?. Set up a camera with motion detection. If there are any drills at hand, get rid of them.
Once a bar is drilled, it's generic as far as I am concerned. Any premium above spot that I might offer for a Perth Mint or Pamp is lost. My customers don't like them and they want a decent discount otherwise they are quite happy to fork over an extra $20 for a good one. I have purchased a few drilled bars from stackers and none have mentioned that the bars they were selling were drilled. They should! Always make sure you have agreed on the buyback price before you allow anyone to drill your bar. In this day and age with so many different types of electronic gizmos readily available for testing precious metals there really is no need to mutilate bars any longer.
Personally I would not buy a drilled bar. If someone sold me a bar that had been drilled without saying so I'd be most displeased
Guy said a guy said he bought them from the Mint like that. Yep, Perth Mint drills its own bars after pouring them to make sure it is not cheating itself
bought an abc bar off Ainsley with a much deeper drilling (similar diametre though).. didn't see it till i got home. still stewing about it
I totally agree... hopefully in the future people will mention this type of damage when listing their items for sale.
Hmm. Could be a hallmark for such bars. Doubt the counterfeiters will notice such small details an reproduce them.
Oh come on they are kilo bars - lumps of metal As long as they are not fake and the right weight who cares what they look like Next you will be wanting them all to be shiny and without scratches Why not melt them down and pour them out into home made loafs with lots of imperfections and then they will be worth a fortune
Thanks for your thoughts Trew... I do understand that some people don't care about the bars appearances. As you say, the bars are unlikely to be fake, and they still are the correct weight. Though it would have been nice to have been told in advance about their drilled condition. Personally, I would like them to be all shiny and without scratches too
If you pay a premium for a nice shiny Pamp Bar, thats what you should get. Not some Bar thats been tampered with. As Aurora et Luna mentioned there are plenty of modern technology around to test a silver bar without needing to drill holes. I can assure you, if a seller has not made it known to me that a bar has drill holes, I will use feedback to let everyone know. It should be made known right from the start, just the same as a coin with scratches or cracked capsules.
All the best fakes have a drilled hole in them before being coated in silver. They're called countersunk-counterfeits. The better fakes have multiple holes, to counter the one hole only counterfeit. Which disguises the no hole counterfeits.
I thought I'd better check my stack to see if any had been drilled. To my surprise look what I found: http://forums.silverstackers.com/uploads/6641_drilled.png
Just do a simple silver 'tap test'. Tap the bar on the table twice, hold it to your ear, if you hear the sound of Makita singing her song, which is like a power tool still echoing, it warrants further investigation... now shake it really hard, HARD man, if a panda falls out, it is definitely a fake.
