Tungsten-Filled 10 Oz Gold Bar Found In The Middle Of Manhattan's Jewelry District

zero hedge ^

[Sequoyah101]

So, do you carry one of those with you and will it still work when the SHTF?

Life sure is complicated ain’t it?

[Nailbiter]

LOL

[Smokin' Joe]

The specific gravities are pretty close. 19.29 for gold, 19.62 for tungsten. By the time you get to a 10 oz bar, with a fairly thick coating of gold, the difference is a tad tighter.

[Puckster]

Well...at least it would make one excellent rivet bucking bar.

[RC one]

The Fisch

[ltc8k6]

That would not detect these bars. They are surrounded by a fairly thick gold layer, not gold plated.

[The Duke]

Easy solution...just remove the seller's pants and hold a cocked gun to his temple while you test the gold.

If his undies turn brown, then you know it's a fake! :)

[Conservative4Ever]

I would much rather uncover chocolate... :-)

[Erasmus]

Have I got a deal for you. I’ll cut them in half on my own bandsaw for free!

[vox_freedom]

[Jet Jaguar]

Goldbug ping.

[9YearLurker]

You sure you don’t mean .001 cents in 2014 dollars?

[Skepolitic]

Archimedes didn’t know about tungsten, which has a density almost equal to gold, 19.25 g/cm3 versus gold’s 19.30 g/cm3.

[brityank]

Simple test - bend it over a solid steel bar; the tungsten won’t bend, the 9999.9% pure will.

[Fresh Wind]

Careful, the word “whoopie” has a darker meaning these days.

[Dusty Road]

If given the same dimensions then they will not weigh the same.

[grey_whiskers]

And yes, I've looked at the ubiquitous stories that all contain the statement "it passed a hand-held XRF test". One even claimed that XRF "..only penetrates the first 0.001 inch", which is complete BS. I suspect this was a completely untrained operator that was using it as a "magic box".

TSA agent, perhaps? /sarc>

Cheers!

[Wonder Warthog]

"That would not detect these bars. They are surrounded by a fairly thick gold layer, not gold plated."

Without knowing the specifics of the detector, you cannot make such a judgment (what energy/intensity of x-ray source, sensitivity of detection). Some XRF devices will probably not work, some will work. But this is a very specific application. I'm sure some mfg. will come up with a dedicated device that targets this specific application.

Believe me, I understand the physics here. My minor subject in grad school was nuclear science, a fair segment of which was about non-destructive testing using radiographic devices. I'm sure plain old x-radiography with Co-60 and film would quickly distinguish such fake bars....and that the new fully electronic and computerized (and much more sensitive) detectors would do even better.

[cripplecreek]

Rehypothecation sounds like more BS from the usual sources.

First thing I do this morning and flip over to the BBC and they're running a story out of Europe about an insurer doing the same crap with valuable items like rare musical instruments, jewelery, cars, home etc.

[ltc8k6]

You can see in the pics that the layer of gold is quite thick. I doubt the bars would get far if they could be detected so easily.

They know such checks are going to be done. They know gold plating will not work. That’s why they go to the trouble of hollowing out actual gold bars.

I’m actually far more interested in how they are hollowing out the actual gold bars, and how they are sealing them up again without this being visually noticeable.