How to spot COUNTERFEIT silver bullion.. Check your Stack --PART2 #51

So as promised, this is part 2 of the how to spot counterfeit silver bullion. I have more time today to write, so it will be as rushed :) There is a link to part 1 near the bottom of this post. I hope this helps a few people out. Feel free to resteem it if you thinks its worth sharing. Trying to get it out and about for the #steemgoldsilver group, also a link at the very bottom n how to join up. So here we here with tpart 2 on how to check your stack.

Only buy from trusted dealers

If you decide that you want to buy silver/gold from the likes of eBay, graigslist, gumtree and the such that the choices of getting a fake is greater than buying from a bullion licensed bullion dealer. If you do decided do buy junk silver, there are many online calculators you can use to check the value. Here are things to watch for when buying silver from sources other than a reputable dealer and how they maybe called in titles.

Silver plated

Its what it says on the tin, no pun intended. This is when any cheap metal is coated in a thin layer of silver to fool buyers into parting their money

German Silver

Its another term used in place of nickle silver (see below)

Nickle Silver

This while have a silver appearance and can be tricky to spot. Its made up from 3 metals, 1/5 nickel, 1/5 zinc and 3/5's copper

100 Mills

This is a word that has tricked alot of people. When they say 100mills silver, what they really mean is the thickness of the silver coating. Some of these coins can say the coins are .999 bullion because they have a thick layer of silver cover a some base metal. Its basically a fancy word for silver plated.

Silver Clad

This again is another fancy word for silver plated, they melt 2 metals together and they bond into a clad.

Do the gravity test

This is a highly accurate test when preformed correctly. What you are doing is testing the ratio of its densities to it's chemical and composition makeup and hoping that you get a result of around 10.49. This test will find those clad bars and German silver. Its works because you can not change the density of a metals and silver should have a reading of around 10.49. See below to see how you can perform this test.
1/ - Use a scale that can measure in 0.00 and get a dry weight
2/ - Get a cup and fill it up with enough water to fully submerge the coin, then this onto your scale and tare it off back to 0.00
3/ - Attach some string are sewing thread around the coin and then set some up that you can hang the coins from hands free
4/ - Attach the string with the coin in it to whatever you are using to hang your coin from and lower it into the water. Let it settle and write down the wet weight.
5/ - On some paper, are your phone, divide the dry weight by the wet weight and you should get a result of around 10.49

The Acid Test

This is another highly precise test you can preform. The acid used it a mixture of nitric acid and muratic acid and can got from a coin dealer are online from ebay are amazon. If you do buy this acid, you should buy a testing stone to go along with it. This is an instant test but will damage your bullion. It is best to preform this test when you have bought muitible of the same item and you want to test 1-2 to verify them. If you think that the bullion is silver plated, best thing to do is grind down an edge to get down deeper into the bullion. When you have dropped some acid into the coin surface it will chance colour to tell you what the metal is. Silver will be a certain colour and other metals will have different colours, most acid will come with a booklet chart for you to measure colour against. This test will also work with sterling silver as it has its own colour.

XRF Analyers

First off you need to be a super stacker to have ones of those as they ring through at around £5000-7000. There is 2 companies that make them, Niton and Bruker. Its simply works by pointing the devices laser scanner beam at whatever you want to test, squeeze the trigger and instantly get back a result of the metals composition. Nice and easy but maybe too expensive

Ultrasonice Thickness Test

So if you liked the one abovbe but cant afford it, this is something within a reachable price. Its a ultra sonic thickness gauge, they cost around £120+ and are another way to get a trustworthly result. Its works by measuring the time its takes for sound to travel through metals. If your bullion is real, this will confirm that. It work really well well on larger items that you may not want to damage with the acid test are maybe to big to do the gravity test. Perfect for a hobby stacker that buys from car boots, local coin dealers, online, ect

Fire Assay

This is last on the list because if you tried all the other tests and want try this one, it will be the last. So in a nutshell this melting down your silver recasting it. You will need equipment for this, i have a good friend @backyardbullion that has a youtube channel with loads of smelting and pouring videos, its sort of his thing check that out if interested.

Here is a link to Part one http://steemurl.com/VDtqlWn4

Check out some of my other posts if you liked this one

HUGE list of 50+ bullion dealers *******http://steemurl.com/J0a0Zn1C
Who are silver stacker's and why?*****http://steemurl.com/lWqCajPI
Joining the #steemsilvergold group****http://steemurl.com/EoVnASGp
Counterfeits, Check Your Stack Part 1 **http://steemurl.com/2XXx4rnP

Any questions, comment below are ask. If you enjoyed the post, please dont forget to upvote this and follow me @silverstackeruk.

Silver stackers hashtag #steemsilvergold and grow the silver stacking community