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I would like to obtain 1x fake 10oz Engelhard silver bar (I know they're out there), and 1x fake 1oz Engelhard silver bar.

I don't want to pay the 0.7 btc that certain people are charging on some sites, because I know they're a whole hell of a lot cheaper than that to obtain.

I'm looking to pay around 0.2 btc shipped to the USA for the 11oz of fake/plated silver.

I'd like to characterize them and test some techniques for identifying fake silver.  These bars are supposedly using a more sophisticated alloy that more accurately resembles silver than some of the older fakes.

They might be out there, but the 1 Oz fakes are more expensive than the real 1 oz bar. 1 Oz bars/coins aren't faked often, unless they are collectors items, because its realitively expensive to fake them well. 10 Oz fakes aren't that uncommon, but most of them are really bad quality. If they are good quality, they get spendy pretty quickly. (maybe check Ebay?)

I remember looking into this when I was buying a lot of 1Oz silver coins/bars, and in order for it to be profitable for 1 Oz fakes to be made, the price of silver had to be over $38/oz, so .7BTC might not be too far off for both. The materials they make the fakes out of are cheaper, but the machining costs are pretty high.

On silk road there are fake silver bars, honestly they are your best bet if you want to test them. After visiting the site and seeing those I will now question all the silver and gold I ever buy. Sad people make such things.

There is a 1oz silver plated Engelhard round on Bitmit.

I'm aware, and I don't want to pay 0.8 btc or so for one shipped when a real bar is 2.2 btc.

My goal is to get one or more of the "good fakes," compare them to the real bars, and provide some useful metrics for identifying the fake ones.  I know they look real, and supposedly pass the magnetic eddy current tests, but I assume there are easily determined differences in size.  Worst case, you can use an ultrasonic thickness gauge (they've gotten cheap) to positively identify the metal.  I just don't want to buy a lot of fake bars, which is what I'd have to do to get them for a good price off alibaba.

I bet they sound different than real bars

They do, and it's a common trick used to test authenticity. Fake stuff is more of a thud instead of a ping. I would just stick to the density test, there's no possible way to beat that, given standard bullion measurements.

Right.  I'm aware.

I'd like to sit down with a 10oz real bar, a 10oz fake bar, and compare them in a variety of tests.  I've seen various claims made, various claims argued against, and I want to take state of the art in fakes and evaluate it. :)

I work in precious metals. Please post your results if obtained.

Seriously.  Nobody has one of these they want to sell me?

I'm offering to pay perfectly good bitcoin for quite fake metal!

Sorry if this has been repeated, but have you tried some place like aliexpress? i found these scottsdale silver non magnetic fakes with 2 seconds of searching. they seem to have all sorts of varieties for cheap.

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Newest-B0013-Promotions-Free-Shipping-5-Pcs-Lot-One-Troy-Ounce-Scottsdale-Silver-Bar-No/830634677.html

I've found someone willing to sell me what I'm looking for.

I didn't care to make a bulk order, as I don't have any use for a large amount of fake silver.

Cool Story Bro

i have one coin i bought on ebay a few years back that doesn't respond to diamagnetic. I think is an eagle

its possible. all you have to do is layer silver on top of tin on top of a tungsten core. if you get the ratio right than you can perfectly match the density of silver.

The link i provided was $17 for 5 of them, with free shipping. Seemed to be good.

Glad to see that you got what you needed.

Those are the 1oz bars.  I only need one of those, and I need a 10oz bar as well.

Right, but the depth measurement with an ultrasonic gauge should be badly wrong.  Basically, I just want to see how good this batch of bars is.

that's correct. ultrasonic is what you would have to use to detect that sort of forgery. perhaps some form of electrical resistance test might work also?

I am interested in a fake 10oz and 1oz too.  Let me know if I can get in on whatever you find.

If your still looking PM me. I have one of each Engelhard neither of them (10oz/1oz) have serial #'s and both are still sealed in the bag.

Edit and they sound fine.

Edit2: The 10oz is Engelhard and the 1oz bar is Sunshine Minting.

I have some fake ones I got. I'm suing the guy. Had it tested to make sure with a metal gun
contact me via message

Hey I found my 10oz bar shoot me a offer again.

I got em for him, just because he's going to make a movie comparing them to the real thing. Educational.

Yeah, that's the plan. :)  Though work/life/travel then snuck up and has swamped me.  Hoping to have time later this week or this weekend to pull them out.  I did get the composition data on them.

Copper with an extremely thin silver coat?

Nope. Cupronickel alloy with a tiny bit of iridium. And a silver layer.

PM'd

makes sense. amazing how similar the size [density] was to a real bar, don't you think?