Precious Metals Academy
Counterfeit Detection: Protect Your Stack
Learn the five tests that expose fake coins and bars — and the buying habits that keep counterfeits off your bench entirely.
In short
- The single best counterfeit defence is the purchase channel: established dealers with published buyback policies, at normal market premiums. A price materially below current melt value is a serious red flag.
- Tungsten's density is within 0.4% of gold's — a well-made tungsten-core fake can pass the scale AND the calipers. Conductivity and ultrasound testing are the stronger verification methods for that threat; the ping test is a useful but less conclusive screen.
- Silver is never attracted to a magnet. Any pull at all means a ferromagnetic core. Genuine silver shows a slow, braking slide as a magnet moves across it.
- Fakes almost never match weight and all dimensions at once — a $30 pair of digital calipers catches most of them.
- Old circulated coins legitimately weigh 1–3% light from wear. A modern bullion coin that falls outside the issuing mint's published specification for that exact product warrants further testing before you accept it.
Counterfeit bullion is a real and growing problem — modern fakes have moved far beyond the crude pot-metal copies of past decades. The good news: a handful of inexpensive tools and a few disciplined habits catch most of them, and stronger professional verification covers much of the rest. This guide covers how counterfeiters work, the five tests that expose them, and the buying habits that keep fakes out of your stack in the first place.
For how deep each instrument sees, why an XRF reading can be fooled by plating, and the mints’ own security features, see our article on how fake gold and silver coins are caught.