Fellow Stackers - I don't buy from E-bay myself, but to be honest - this issue of counterfeit goods is my ONLY concern with being a long term metal buyer - more so than any price movements. We, as a community - should be shaming, shunning and reporting - anyone known to be selling counterfeit goods. It has the potential undermine something we all enjoy. Not trying to be an on-line hero or tough guy - but we have enough eyes out there in cyberspace - across all markets (SS, Ebay, Gumtree etc) to do some good work. I believe we all want to encourage more people to partake in stacking and chances are, it is the newest among us who unwitting swap their hard earned for spurious product. Older stackers could do a good deed here. Perhaps we list E-bay sellers name + link to the article being sold. Case in Point in link below - The "g" in Engelhard is off, the "r" in Troy is off. Apparently someone from the Reddit/r/silverbugs community tried to ask some questions to ascertain if the seller was aware the goods were fake - seller banned that user from bidding or messaging them and the sale continues. http://www.ebay.com/itm/350887328364 http://about.ag/Engelhard-1oz.htm - image of genuine bar - 3rd from bottom Regards; HD.
Nice to see you're out to protect the good intentions of the vast majority. I strongly applaud that. So not to in any way question your comments. But you'd reckon a seller with 100% after 500 odd trades might (not would, but might) have been pulled up?? Anyway, strengthens my argument that an ultrasound tester (yes off ebay lol) is good thing to have. I've had both a cheapie and a very expensive ultrasound tester and both produce the same results. Worth looking at. Love your work HD.
At first glance the 2 engelhard bars looked the same. Then I noticed the positioning of 'AUSTRALIA' is different on the (suspected) fake. The 'R' sits below the 'L' on the (suspected) fake but should be midway between the 'L' and 'H' (as on the verified real bar). Update: I sent an email to the seller and he replied saying he is taking the question of authenticity seriously and is preparing a post on bullionstacker.com. He says he purchased it from (an undisclosed) reputable seller and is contacting other collectors in his network.
I do not believe this is a fake. I have an identical bar to the eBay sale in my position. XRF tests as 999, weighs 31.1+ grams. Age appropriate toning and condition. Purchased as part of a mixed lot of vintage bars about 2 years ago. The absence of it from the reference page is not proof of it being a fake. I would wager that there were simply two different dies used to produce these minted bars at some point in time, much like the huge variety of dies to produce US minted Engelhard bars.
Hi Folks, Though t I would share this. There is a huge problem of counterfeit guitars coming out of china, particularly fake gibson les pauls. If you know what to look for its pretty easy to spot them. I reported to ebay 3 times in a row that a fake one was being sold as the real deal (these fakes go for about $250-300 on ali express),while the real gibsons go for up to $5000) and ebay did nothing to stop the sale. All that happened was the seller removed the pics showing the tell tale signs and relisted it after each complaint I made. The guy was selling it for $999 starting bid and advertising it as an original item. Be careful of ebay looking out for these types of things as I tried to help somebody not get ripped off and ebay did jack about it. Just my experience thought it might help.
Been happening for years You can check them out at your local crimeconverters Yep Crimeconverters stock them . A guitar tech I know told me they look the part from 10m away :lol: But you can't even tune them
exactly ! It looks like a guitar but is NOT a musical instrument, thats for sure. My 80 lp custom can be tuned, put in the case and 2 weeks later taken out and its in tune and stays that way after hours of playing. But its all relative I guess, when you have some poor slave making maybe $2 a day and he has to make X amount a day or his family doesnt eat, this is basically what happens. I bought a $300 12 string electric a few years ago (made in china, jay turser guitar) and it always buzzed etc. I removed the neck (bolt on) and the neck pocket was all gouged and chisled out, uneven etc and the nut slot was the same. But unfortunately the chinese fakes of bullion, mobile phones,ipads,guitars,designer clothes etc wouldnt be made unless there was a demand for it. Man that sucks that cash converters are actually stocking them, are they trying to pass them off as real ? I know they even have "made in usa" stamped on the back of the headstock and a serial number etc. I know gibson wants people to report anyone selling fakes etc to their website, might be an idea.
Although I currently have one listed on ss as part of my auction (which appears slightly different to the ebay item) I too believe with GP's comments that this it not a fake. But also believe USD$199 wow.....hope they gets it.....then if mine doesn't sell...of to ebay it goes I do agree with your origional post that we should be warning each other of definate known fakes in circulation...hence Panda's, etc. But before peeps start naming and shaming, you must be 100% certain that the item is a fake, because if its not you may find yourself with some expensive legal bills to attend with........
On the guitar thing, if a guitar is bought before playing it, then you realise its fake, stiff cheddar.I would never buy a guitar without playing it. Fake silver on the other hand is very different. I know a couple of guys that bought fake les pauls just to hang on the wall cos they looked good.
