I didn't realize the premium was so high for some of those. Especially, the first 5 oz bar being the same price as the 30 oz.
Do you have a set of checks you go through to help determine that the bar is genuine?
I saw the bars you got were labelled OZS, does that mean they're standard ounces, not troy?
@themanwithnoname premiums are always significantly higher in the smaller weight classes. Much more a demand. There are a couple favors I always look for when buying. The font style, shape, and strike. If it's consistant with confirmed authentic bars. Also the color of the bar. If it's dark or toned typically that means it's been around for a while. If it's very bright and shiney it could have been recently produced. The scam artist from Canada whose making the fake Engelhard bar's. All of his are very shiney and modern looking. Great question!
I was looking at some of the bars and you could get a 5 oz or 10 oz for the same price. Ha ha. I guess the demand really is a lot higher for the smaller ones.
I like the bright and shiny, but it makes sense they're more likely to be fakes as silver naturally tones.
Was the scam artist using real silver, but faking the Engelhard stamps? Or was he using copper/nickel and covering with silver?
So far I've been trusting that the coin stores can spot a fake, but I would want to do more research before buying from someone on ebay or something.
It seems like there would be a lot of counterfeiters. I wonder where all those bars and coins go.
He is using 999 fine silver to produce counterfeits. He went out an had Engelhard stamps and dies custom made to march the old bars. It's incredible the length he has ADMITTEDLY gone..
I guess if they're 100% silver, then as long as you get a good price, it's not terrible. You could just melt it down. I'm surprised that someone was willing to make him the stamps and dies. You'd think they would be more concerned about things like that. I guess some people will do anything for a bit of money.
Did they ever catch the guy and put him behind some less precious metal bars?
People will do anything for money. The counterfeiter is advertising these bar's as authentic vintage ingots. Putting full premium pricing on them. His latest is a 7oz on eBay for $1300. He's trying to rip people off!
That sucks! It makes me wonder where all the other counterfeits go that are made by people who are not as blatantly a fraudster. Do I have any fake coins in my collection. Hmmm.
I thought that ebay had shut down the guy's account? Did he just open another one?
@themanwithnoname ozs stands for ounces. All silver ingots are measured in troy ounces.
Ahhh, ok. I wasn't sure if some of them were measured in standard ounces just to throw people off. I've seen people selling quarters on ebay by the ounce, and they mean the weight of the coins, not ASW. You have to look out for that stuff.