How do you know your silver is real?

[kleinphi]

Today is the first time in my life that I have seen a 1 oz .999 silver round. And to be honest, I am not sure it is not a fake. Here is my problem: All 90% coins have a certain ring to them when you balance them on your fingertip and tap them with another coin. Dimes will ring for at least a second, quarters a little longer, and halves at least 4 or 5 seconds. When I tried the same test on that 1 oz .999 silver round, it didn't sound like much at all. The ringing lasted maybe 2 seconds. I would have expected a longer sound from such a large coin. Now, it might be that .999 silver simply does not resonate as well as 90%. Those of you who possess silver in all forms, what has been your experience with this test?

[Veli Hopea]

Now, it might be that .999 silver simply does not resonate as well as 90%. Those of you who possess silver in all forms, what has been your experience with this test?I have .999 Silver Eagles and also old Nazi Germany Reichsmarks. I must say that the old coins resonate longer. I believe the reason is the alloy and weight. One oz Silver Eagle is essentially heavier. Also the silver-copper alloy is harder than pure silver.

I guess your rounds are fine.
:smokin:

[Halophyte]

If your buying bullion rounds just stay with the most popular mints, don’t buy art rounds, stick to trade rounds. I buy Engelhard and Sunshine. Don't worry about color or finish, silver can have a mirror finish or a satin finish, it doesn't matter.

.

[hoarder]

The only "fake" silver I've ever heard about is drilled and filled 100 ounce bars.

The only time it was cost effective to do this was in the 1980 spike. But there will be another spike and history will repeat itself, making it hard to unload big bars.

You will never have to worry about fakes if you buy 90% pre-1965 US coins.

The current high premium on 100 ounce bars and low premium on 90% silver coins tells me that most silver investors are ignorant of this.

[lhslancers]

Pre -65 silver coins seem to be a no brainer to me for all the reasons given. They are easily recognizable. Even though they are subject to more wear and therefore you get slightly less silver in the bags I prefer dimes. God knows how much those things will be worth WTSHTF.

[hoarder]

Pre -65 silver coins seem to be a no brainer to me for all the reasons given. They are easily recognizable. Even though they are subject to more wear and therefore you get slightly less silver in the bags I prefer dimes. God knows how much those things will be worth WTSHTF.
But buy the dimes from someone you really trust, otherwise figure about $50 of your labor to count the tiny bastards.

[AuNuggets]

Hahahaha...... clink 1, clink 2, clink 3, clink 4, etc. etc.........

Get yourself a good industrial (bankers) coin counting machine if you are dealing in alot of 90%...... especially the dimes. You'll be glad you did ! :banana:

[Joejeweler]

Hoarder....."count the tiny bastards".........are you nuts! :haha: My dealer has a machine to run them on count if you feel the need, but just take a couple handfuls and guage the look for wear on them. I feel comfortable if a canvas bag has a "strong" weight.......meaning at around 800-803 ounces troy. If you take off a maybe 2-3 ounces for the bag and X the remaining weight by 90% you should be in the ballpark of a "full" bag. In fact, on my half dollar bag the gross weight was 803 ounces. Minus the bag the silver works out to 720 fine ounces, or better than the 715 most dealers state. With most dime and quarter bags you'll be closer to 715-717 fine ounces per bag, IMO.

My dealer had an accurate digital scale that he'll use to weigh them in front of me. My first dime bag weighed around 799 ounces, so i didn't feel the need to "run" them thru the counter. But i did run my hand thru the bag in case someone tried to sneek some damn clad in there! :D

But buy the dimes from someone you really trust, otherwise figure about $50 of your labor to count the tiny bastards.

[AuNuggets]

Joe..... don't you mean SEVEN hundred and so ounces on the bags ?

[SilverStreak]

The only "fake" silver I've ever heard about is drilled and filled 100 ounce bars.

The only time it was cost effective to do this was in the 1980 spike. But there will be another spike and history will repeat itself, making it hard to unload big bars.

You will never have to worry about fakes if you buy 90% pre-1965 US coins.

The current high premium on 100 ounce bars and low premium on 90% silver coins tells me that most silver investors are ignorant of this.

This man thinks exactly like me and i love it ---nice to see someone so close in thoughts

[hoarder]

This man thinks exactly like me and i love it ---nice to see someone so close in thoughts
I learned a lot of it from your posts.

One question on possible disadvantage of 90%. Doesn't the guvmint have the authority to "recall" currencies? Since 90% is currency isn't it possible that they could take the silver and give fiat in exchange?

[SilverStreak]

Like anything -----the govt recalled gold in the 30's so where in the hell do we get all the coins from that era now ----- must be some told them to screw off----- by the way gold eagles are currency now and of course people who bought them will also turn them in now --ya right -- tell me another story ---- and they won't recall them either as too much flack would happen --- and pre 1965 coins will be numismatics as the premium will be shocking for 90 or 40 % WTSHTF and I do not think I will give up my gold silver or guns ---may be after taking Khans silver they won't need ours as they will have enough Ha Haaa Haaaa

[Joejeweler]

You're right, i was in a hurry this morning and had a brain fart!

.....went back and edited the post to correct it. Thanks.......

Joe..... don't you mean SEVEN hundred and so ounces on the bags ?

[Ander]

This question was asked on last week's financial sense newshour broadcast with Jim Puplava.

www.financialsense.com
www.netcastdaily.com

He said that only a very small portion of the 100oz bars were tampered with, and it was mostly some Engelhard's that were messed with b employees at Engelhard. 1oz rounds should be perfectly safe. It just has never made sense to counterfeit them....

[AuNuggets]

....."He said that only a very small portion of the 100oz bars were tampered with".....

True. But there is still the concern of all the bars out there that can still POTENTIALLY be tampered with in the future. Engelhards were not the only ones "drilled and filled". I saw many of the Johnson-Matthey bars with the same treatment in years past, moreso at times of higher silver prices. Lead alloys were mixed to mimmic the specific gravity (weight to volume) of silver, making them indistinguishable from the real thing without cutting, drilling, or asssay.

Get a written guarantee of content on any 100 ounce silver bars you purchase........