[Vince Ferrer]

I wonder if this is done with gold coins?

Of course, gold coins are a "store of value," they would never be melted down to make electronics out of, so most likely it would never be detected. Just look on this Chinese website: Tungsten Alloy for Gold Substitution

[Anti-Bubba182]

Wow! You can't trust coins either. How would most honest vendors know the coins were good without a destructive assay? They could look at the impression, but the weight would be the same.

How reliable are the national mints? If there is screwing around with the gold in Fort Knox, what is safe?