Gold testing

[Tape]

Does anyone use gold testing equipment other than acid?

[Abyss]

@Tape six months ago I had the same question

Perform gravity testing on gold as well

Search on the forum lots of information available.

[whuamai]

I'm just using a digital plastic caliper with two digits and a digital scale with two digits after the dot.

These sigma verifiers are kinda interestig but they still cost alot and have to be imported (import taxes)from the USA.

[Tape]

2 hours ago, whuamai said:

I'm just using a digital plastic caliper with two digits and a digital scale with two digits after the dot.

These sigma verifiers are kinda interestig but they still cost alot and have to be imported (import taxes)from the USA.

whuamai, I am considering buying the Sigma verifier, but they have several and I am not sure which one I want to get. I want one that verifies gold, silver, platinum and not just coins. Considering that if it saves you from buying one bad coin you would have just got your money back.

[whuamai]

Yea and especially when buying a lot on the secondary market it's worth considering. I just think the prices are a bit high and they must fall over a period of time. Don't they all test all precious metals? 

[whuamai]

BTW our admin morezone has one which he shows on yt. I am sure he could answer some open questions about it. 

[mr1030]

4 hours ago, Tape said:

whuamai, I am considering buying the Sigma verifier, but they have several and I am not sure which one I want to get. I want one that verifies gold, silver, platinum and not just coins. Considering that if it saves you from buying one bad coin you would have just got your money back.

The basic model will do what you want.  It tests gold, silver, platinum and palladium in various purities.  The cost goes up if you get it packaged with the different sized wand sensors which do a better job then the main sensor for very small or larger items.  The newer Pro version is twice the price but has sensors to examine two sides of an item at the same time, and with the additional sensors can do specific gravity measurements, and tell you how much the item should weigh in ounces.  I have the original one and I really like it.  I've seen videos of the pro being used and have watched the guy at my LCS use it and it is pretty cool.

[Tape]

I went ahead and bought the 3 Wand Sigma Metalytics Precious Metal Verifier Bullion set - SM1501S2,

I was going to buy the Sigma Metalytics Precious Metal Verifier PRO

 

but it will not test slabbed coins less than one oz. which I find kind of strange because it's supposed to be the more advanced model.

[Bumble]

This article on zerohedge explains how to test a coin to distinguish whether it is diamagnetic or paramagnetic. It is a simple and inexpensive test, and will distinguish gold or silver from tungsten, for example. I doubt whether it would be capable of distinguishing silver from lead, or gold from silver or copper, so it is of limited usefulness on its own.

[CosmikDebris]

My local jeweller has  X ray, he charges me £3  per item. You cant really beat it.

[Bullionbilly]

1 hour ago, CosmikDebris said:

My local jeweller has  X ray, he charges me £3  per item. You cant really beat it.

Worth every penny 

[Murph]

24 minutes ago, Bullionbilly said:

Worth every penny 

As was shown by Chard’s getting the wrong result on a Krugerrand?

[CosmikDebris]

22 minutes ago, Murph said:

As was shown by Chard’s getting the wrong result on a Krugerrand?

Are you trying to say that these machines are fallible, or was this a case of human error? Could you link to the article from Chards? The machine my jeweller uses cost him £14000 and is the only one in the South West of England. He told me that Bleyer Bullion come to him on occasion for testing. So if some of the major dealers are relying on these machines it does not bode well for the consumer!

[Bumble]

Bear in mind that X-rays do not penetrate very far into metal, so an XRF scan will only test the surface of a coin or bar. If a coin has been plated, or a bar has been drilled out and cored with another metal, XRF will not detect this. It is best to supplement XRF with an ultrasound scan. As far as I can tell, the diamagnetic/paramagnetic test would do a good job of distinguishing gold from gold plated tungsten.

[Murph]

15 hours ago, CosmikDebris said:

Are you trying to say that these machines are fallible, or was this a case of human error? Could you link to the article from Chards? The machine my jeweller uses cost him £14000 and is the only one in the South West of England. He told me that Bleyer Bullion come to him on occasion for testing. So if some of the major dealers are relying on these machines it does not bode well for the consumer!

Yes, very fallible by the looks of things.  Someone linked the post here but after their own and the assay office xrf tests gave low results they had it destructively tested by Sheffield assay office and the result was as expected.

https://www.chards.co.uk/blog/krugerrand-gold-content/507/3227

 

[sovereignsteve]

Bear in mind, these planchet errors are very rare. Dealers such as Chards etc will test many, many coins per day and come up with such problems every Preston Guild.