Silver Bar in Airport X-Ray Scanner

J

jasonsantoso777

New Member
How is silver bar in airport x ray scanner? Some says that all metal colors will appear black in x ray machine. But is it true for silver too?

I mean will silver bar color in x ray appears the same with another metals such as gold, copper, steel, iron etc?
Silver density is about 10 g/cm3 while it's closest metal partner in density is steel, which is roughly 7-8 g/cm3

The reason I'm asking this is that I am afraid customs officer in my home country will get suspicious if they detect something out of the ordinary in their x ray machine after I take my luggage in the arrival terminal.

Thanks,
Jason
 
It'll be fine. Plenty here have travelled domestically and internationally with silver. Easiest way is to pre-empt the suspicion and ask for a private screening so you can explain what it is.

What countries are you travelling to and from?
 
I am from Indonesia and travelling to USA. Planning to buy 100 oz of silver bullion.

The problem is that Indonesian custom officer often get suspicious for anything out of the ordinary, even at its slightest.
If they do, usually they will ask for bribes or force us to pay taxes that actually we shouldn't.

Have anyone here have been travelled to Indonesia and carrying gold or silver?

Thanks
 
I once took a small amount of gold from Kalimantan and cleared customs in Oz at Cairns, no issues taking it out at the Indo side, asked a few questions at Oz side.

You may be right though, I have seen customs asking people for "tax duty" at Denpasar when bringing things in, not PM's but I am sure they would try it on.
 
Silver shows up Black in the x-ray machines.
Gold shows up Yellow in the x-ray machines.

How do I know this... I was nosey enough to look whilst it was going through the x-rays.
 
I did get stopped in Sydney Airport carrying some 10oz Lunar Coins through the x-ray machines.
They asked what is was. I said it was silver coins. They wanted me to open the capsule. I said no.
Just look at it from outside the capsule. I guess they must of thought it looked like a land mine shape.

I know a mate that got stopped carrying a glass pineapple souvenir. They thought it was a hand grenade.

Another time got stopped carrying some Full 100gm Gold Valcambi Bars. They just looked at it and let me go through.

These stoppages were all from domestic traveling.

Traveling internationally I didn't have any problems when checking-in the luggage with the bullion items.
 
adrenalin said:
I did get stopped in Sydney Airport carrying some 10oz Lunar Coins through the x-ray machines.
They asked what is was. I said it was silver coins. They wanted me to open the capsule. I said no.
Just look at it from outside the capsule. I guess they must of thought it looked like a land mine shape.

I know a mate that got stopped carrying a glass pineapple souvenir. They thought it was a hand grenade.

Another time got stopped carrying some Full 100gm Gold Valcambi Bars. They just looked at it and let me go through.

These stoppages were all from domestic traveling.

Traveling internationally I didn't have any problems when checking-in the luggage with the bullion items.
Click to expand...

I got my bag pulled from an airport scanner in the EU specifically for a few (3or 4) silver coins. There were many other things in it but the scanner operator was specifically interested to know what this disks were. Normally no problem though.
 
adrenalin said:
...

Traveling internationally I didn't have any problems when checking-in the luggage with the bullion items.
Click to expand...

Man, I don't think I could trust my bullion to checked baggage....
 
i always take 25kg silver and gold coins to anywhereall no pro
maybe some country customs are very strict
 
Beyond said:
i always take 25kg silver and gold coins to anywhereall no pro
maybe some country customs are very strict
Click to expand...

Did I understand you correctly, that you take 25 kilos with you wherever you go? Just curious why you would do that, seems like allot of work. Also, how much to you tip the skycap?
 
Why would anyone go through so much hassle when they can buy the silver at their destination instead.
 
Phiber said:
Why would anyone go through so much hassle when they can buy the silver at their destination instead.
Click to expand...

The OP is from Indonesia - I've seen a thread on here previously about the difficulty of buying bullion in Indonesia.
 
My immediate thought was which airports scan baggage on arrivals... Denpasar was one of the few I have seen. They don't do a body check though - so maybe transfer to a pocket(s) at that point?
 
adrenalin said:
Silver shows up Black in the x-ray machines.
Gold shows up Yellow in the x-ray machines.

How do I know this... I was nosey enough to look whilst it was going through the x-rays.
Click to expand...

If your 'gold' shows up yellow, it's not gold.
In the modern tri-colour machines yellow to orange is for organics, blue to black for metals, green for some plastic (or metal and organic overlapping).

Edit - http://snallabolaget.com/?page_id=666
 
It made me wonder how it would be putting smaller bullion coins in a coin pouch with ordinary change. I suppose any capsules would show though.
 
whinfell said:
Phiber said:
Why would anyone go through so much hassle when they can buy the silver at their destination instead.
Click to expand...

The OP is from Indonesia - I've seen a thread on here previously about the difficulty of buying bullion in Indonesia.
Click to expand...

Here in Indonesia there are many gold bullion dealers but it is very hard to find silver bullion dealers. Even if they sell silver, their price markup is very high. I have seen an Indonesian popular precious metal dealer who sells silver bullion 50% over the spot price. Most Indonesian people don't feel familiar with silver.
 
l***g said:
adrenalin said:
Silver shows up Black in the x-ray machines.
Gold shows up Yellow in the x-ray machines.

How do I know this... I was nosey enough to look whilst it was going through the x-rays.
Click to expand...

If your 'gold' shows up yellow, it's not gold.
In the modern tri-colour machines yellow to orange is for organics, blue to black for metals, green for some plastic (or metal and organic overlapping).

Edit - http://snallabolaget.com/?page_id=666
Click to expand...


I wasn't aware x-rays reflect color at all.

That's for fancy visible light.
 
SilverTabbyCat said:
l***g said:
adrenalin said:
Silver shows up Black in the x-ray machines.
Gold shows up Yellow in the x-ray machines.

How do I know this... I was nosey enough to look whilst it was going through the x-rays.
Click to expand...

If your 'gold' shows up yellow, it's not gold.
In the modern tri-colour machines yellow to orange is for organics, blue to black for metals, green for some plastic (or metal and organic overlapping).

Edit - http://snallabolaget.com/?page_id=666
Click to expand...


I wasn't aware x-rays reflect color at all.

That's for fancy visible light.
Click to expand...

They don't - it's false-colour imaging, where different colours are applied to objects of different density.

See for example: http://snallabolaget.com/?page_id=666
 
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