I recently bought a 100g Geiger square gold bar from a re-seller from Germany. The delivery recently came in the mail. I went to my bullion dealer who was so kind enough to test the purity for me. If you all do not know who Geiger is, they are a bullion producer in Germany. For those of you who know Geiger minted bars come in an arcylic type plastic case. I took my Geiger 100g gold bar (still in the case) to my bullion dealer to get it XRF tested. The test result came back as 4.58% AU, 95.27% (LE) and 0.152% (Ni). Does this mean its fake? or is it because of the thick arcylic plastic case that prevents it from getting the correct reading? I am very worried I got scammed and I getting anxious and frustrated at the same time. Does anyone have similar experiences to me with XRF purity with Geiger bars in their arcylic case?? Thanks
You bought a 100g bar from a reseller then went to your friendly bullion dealer to find it was a fake? Forgive me for not sympathising with you!
new XRF unit should be able to detect packaging material, even the thickest one. Based on your XRF reading, it’s 100% fake. Au reading should be much higher than those other, should you be concerned with being mis-read by XRF due to bar’s packaging....in addition, 100g is not a tiny weight when it comes to Au. Its density reading should be much accurate in XRF unit. I always check my purchases, regardless whether items bought from reputable (and non-reputable) shops. I am not surprised with this as it happens in EU region, since they’re (shops) scarce with all metals in general... thus, someone has deliberate intentions to do this... the problem now is, it’s your words against theirs.... if you had recording of the unpackaging of that parcel, then you’d be safe to get refunds... otherwise, you have a battle on your hand, just to get your refund. good luck!
Unfortunately quite likely fake. Does it show the Geiger security stamp under black light? Is this from a presumedly "reputable" re-seller in Germany or how did you decide to commit to purchasing, if you don't mind me asking? https://www.geiger-edelmetalle.de/e...riginal-100-g.9999-in-capsule-2662.html?c=194
The Bullion dealer who XRF'd it would have told you already. I'd have ripped the packaging off and XRF'd again if there was any doubt.
The use of Lanthanum is interesting, haven't seen it in fakes before. Anyone able to comment on how commonly it is used in counterfeiting gold?
@Markus Leo, you say "..I went to my bullion dealer who was so kind enough to test the purity for me." Just wondering why they weren't kind enough to tell you it is fake? Did they comment at all about the test result or say acrylic (or arcylic as you've written 3 times) cases can throw readings out by up to 95% or suggest you jump on a web forum and ask for peoples' opinions because that is a much more accurate way of ascertaining the purity or validity of the item compared to the dealer's test? Also, whilst I'm being an arsehole, I reckon if I wanted to seek advice on here about what may be a fake bar I had purchased I would have uploaded some pics so that anybody who knows about the genuine articles could note any differences in appearance, stamps, markings or "arcylic" cases and point them out to me. Considering it's something supposed to be worth well over $7000, or at least that's what you should have paid the reseller, I think that posting pics would have benefited both yourself and also to give others here info about what to look out for to help prove or not if it is genuine. Just one more thing I would like to be incredibly sceptical about is how you create a thread that is alleging a dealers test has revealed a fake 100g gold bar, but the 7 tags attached to it all mention "gold" or the company brand name. No tags mention "test" or "fake" or "big pile of bullshit" which I think would be very appropriate. Wondering if the OP gets kickbacks for tarnishing reputations, or just likes being a prick like me occasionally?
