Interesting New Precious Metals Tester

I wonder if this functions similar to that of our popular metal detectors? Many of my coin/bullion buddies have recently picked up this device.



[www.sigmametalytics.com]

Interesting....what were your buddies test results?

Yes, same exact method. I looked into designing one of these at White's, found it too easy to fool, at least for jewelry. Might be useful for standard coinage, but a good counterfeiter could easily beat it.

But Geo....... is it better than acid on Jewelry? Most of my finds are in the water so no one is trying to fool me..... thou the item can be fake.

Who we......... i just looked up the price of those on freebay over $700.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/11/2017 08:56PM by dewcon4414.

Well-done fake jewelry (heavy gold plate over a tungsten alloy or low karat gold) will fool an inductance meter like this, and also chemical-only testers. You gotta cut significantly into the surface and then chemical test it.

An inductance tester might be useful for coins, where you have a known genuine sample to compare with. Ferinstance, I own a couple of fake silver dollars (I bought them as such, for my own personal testing) and these will show up on an inductance tester. But the counterfeiters are getting better... a counterfeit rare coin could be struck on a genuine 90% silver planchet -- the value is in the rarity, not the silver -- and would fool any tester other than an expert eye.

The tester appears to do an excellent job differentiating between genuine and fake Morgan dollars especially for collectors that are not so knowledgeable in identifying fakes through experience. Someday China may copy the metallurgy well enough to fool this tester but fortunately, today, we're not there.

I tested my Daniel Carr 1917 Peace dollar and it tested genuine. Of course it should; it was restruck over a genuine Peace Dollar.

Geo..... you are right on with those rare coins. Coin World had articles about China creating rare coins ..... with a willingness to use silver, because like you said the money is in the rarity not the silver and they have been very good at it.

For jewelry i guess ill stick with acid. i have a couple of rings found at a early 1800s church stamped 18K.... but are clearly brass. I guess ill let ARA sort it out lol.

Dew

go-rebels Wrote:
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> Some day China may copy the metallurgy well enough to
> fool this tester but fortunately, today, we're not there.
>

Really, China doesn't really need to do anything new metallurgically...they already have easy access to coin silver.*
They've been playing with super cheap fake coin alloys for 1500 years...they just need to pony up and buy the 90% silver planchets...

Which some are now doing...and even sealing the high-end fake coins in counterfeit PCGS and NGC coin holders.
So NOTICE TO COIN BUYERS...even real silver coins in (what looks like) sealed PCGS and NGC coin holders are no longer guarantees of authenticity.

Coin silver alloy (yes, as the name implies...the exact same alloy used for silver coins) can be easily purchased by anyone, anywhere.
(It's been used extensively in electronic manufacturing, in such things as relay contacts...)

The reason China only recently started using it more in counterfeit coins, is that fundamentally...at their core...they can be some seriously stingy/greedy/crooked/lying bast***s.
So, while this tester would work great on the low-end fakes, it wouldn't work at all on the high-end stuff made with coin silver alloy.

As Carl said, "The value is in the rarity, not the silver."

mike

EDIT: A trivial aside...China is currently the number 2 producer of silver in the world...outpaced only by Mexico. China also uses more silver in 'industrial fabrication' than all the other countries in the world combined.*
* source: [www.silverinstitute.org] (note that this report is from 2016 and uses data from 2015 and earlier...so is slightly out of date with some info)



Edited 6 time(s). Last edit at 06/15/2017 07:45AM by Mike in CO.

Mike, so far the vast majority of fake Morgan dollars do not pass this tester. I've seen hundreds of coins tested with this unit and have never seen a fake pass. I'm not saying that they aren't going to begin using proper planchets in the future, but they haven't started that yet.

As one who deals in finds, I see NO value in this for me, for a trader or merchant of coins, etc but even then only maybe. I think most of us have found some fakes, but if they are good enough to need a professional we should use one.

Past(or)Tom
Using a Legend, a Deus 2, an Equinox 800, a Tarsacci MDT 8000, & a few others...
with my beloved, fading Corgi, Sadie

go-rebels Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Mike, so far the vast majority of fake Morg
> an dollars do not pass this tester. I've seen hun
> dreds of coins tested with this unit and have neve
> r seen a fake pass. I'm not saying that they aren
> 't going to begin using proper planchets in the fu
> ture, but they haven't started that yet.

I certaily agree with you that the vast majority of fake Morgans are of low/poor quality and wouldn't pass the test.
I disagree that they 'haven't started that yet'...all reports say they actually 'started that' a few years ago.

My point is that there are real silver counterfeits in fake 'slabs'.
There are dozens of internet resources dedicated to this very subject...
In those (fortunately far fewer) cases, you wouldn't be able to spot the fake to even know if a fake passed.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/16/2017 12:18AM by Mike in CO.

A nice thing about this tester is that it will test a coin in a slab.. I saw one poorly counterfeited 1889-cc Morgan in a fake NGC slab. The tester caught it.

But when the Chicoms begin to flood the market with high quality planchets, then the job gets tougher. Fortunately, the surface finish and die diagnostics usually give these coins away.

I mainly collect rare US copper coins. There are more than a few very well made fakes that sit in real slabs. Those are very problematic.

(Oh, the tester doesn't test copper.)