Fake gold scam hits Hong Kong goldsmiths

Yahoo News ^ | Thu Dec 2, 1:38 am ET

[panaxanax]

I just tested one of the coins with pure nitric acid and it turned bright green immediately. Lots of copper in them.

[panaxanax]

Who knows what is in all the vitamin C that we buy from them.

DON’T EAT ANYTHING FROM CHINA!!

[DeaconBenjamin]

My bullion coins were minted a hundred years ago and were actually carried around in someones pocket so the wear and scratch marks are readily apparent. Go ahead, bite one, hell cut it in half if you want to, nothing in there but pure gold.

If they were minted 100 years ago, they are probably 90% gold.

[Rearden]

They were minted more than 100 years ago actually, most all are dated in the mid 1800’s. They are considered to be bullion by people who know more than me. Is it customary to mix some other in gold bullion?

A large portion of the gold coins are Liberty 20$ pieces. I bought them from a very reputable dealer. I will have to go back and look it up, but I’m sure that they were sold to me as 99.99% pure gold. If that is not the case, I believe that I have very good grounds for a lawsuit.

[aNYCguy]

There is reason to believe a lot of US Treasury gold is also tungstun-core.

Yes, because superpowers often buy large quantities of $500,000 gold bars without any testing or halfway-decent assurance that they are in fact buying gold bars. They just send cash in an envelope and get their bars mail-order.

In light of this, what you're saying makes perfect sense.

[aNYCguy]

gold coins these days have alloys mixed in to make them hard...so not a chance of biting in.

No, only some do. The Canadian Maple Leaf is 99.99% pure, and the Chinese Gold Panda is 99.9%. These are both apparently very common.

[April Lexington]

Oh, Fook! Tell me this didn’t really happen!

[Jet Jaguar]

Goldbug ping.

[STD]

The Norks really? The IRANIAN's are the master 'dollar bill' makers and the Jews are the master gold counterfeiters.

Who did the Nazi's put to work counterfeiting every major currency during 1939-1945? Hint, it wasn't the Norks

[DeaconBenjamin]

Pure gold is too soft for use in everyday coinage. US, UK, France, Germany/German states, Italy/Italian states, Spain, Switzerland -- all used 90 percent for gold coinage in the 19th century. Albeit, some coins (like German state ducats) used more pure gold in the coins.

Regarding your lawsuit, applying the reasonable person standard, a reasonable buyer is expected to know that old gold coins are alloyed, not pure -- just like the US gold American Eagles that are minted today.

[DeaconBenjamin]

Actually, the British coins were .917 gold.

[Pilsner]

The coins are nearly perfect in every way, to include that well-known “silver ring” sound. I’ll be testing them for silver content (if any) this morning

When the "real" coins sell for a significant premium over bullion, it is not unknown to encounter "fakes" with same, or even higher, gold/solver content as the real thing.