How to Spot Fake Gold Bars and Coins Before You Buy or Sell

Counterfeit bullion used to be obvious. Today the good fakes match the dimensions, carry convincing stamps, and arrive in packaging that looks correct at a glance. If you buy privately — from a classified ad, a marketplace, or someone at a coin show — you should assume nothing until the metal is tested.

Why gold is hard to fake and tungsten is the problem

Gold is remarkably dense: 19.32 g per cubic centimetre. Almost nothing cheap comes close, which is why a correct weight in a correct volume is such a strong signal. The exception is tungsten, at 19.25 g/cm³. A tungsten core plated in real gold can match both weight and dimensions, and that is the counterfeit that catches experienced buyers out.

Tests you can do yourself

• Weight: use a scale accurate to 0.01 g. A 1 oz Maple should read 31.10 g; a 1 oz Krugerrand 33.93 g
• Dimensions: digital callipers against the mint's published diameter and thickness. Fakes that get weight right often get thickness wrong
• Magnet slide: gold is not magnetic. Slide a strong neodymium magnet down a tilted bar — it should not stick, and on real gold it slides freely rather than braking sharply
• The ping test: struck silver and gold coins ring; plated base metal thuds. Useful as a hint, never as proof
• Visual: soft or blurred detail in the relief, uneven edge reeding, and lettering that is slightly the wrong font

Tests that need a dealer

1. Ultrasound thickness testing, which sends sound through the bar and detects a different material inside
2. Electrical conductivity testing, which reads several millimetres deep rather than just the plating
3. XRF analysis, which identifies surface composition precisely but does not see a core
4. Specific gravity measurement, which compares weight in air to weight in water

No single test is conclusive on its own. What gives confidence is a combination: correct weight, correct dimensions, non-magnetic, correct conductivity, and clean ultrasound. That is the sequence we run at the desk, in front of whoever brought the metal in.

Packaging and serial numbers

Sealed assay cards from PAMP, the Royal Canadian Mint, Valcambi and bank programmes like TD's carry serial numbers that should match the bar. Counterfeit packaging exists too, so a card is a helpful signal rather than a guarantee. Never cut a bar out of an intact card to prove it before selling — a sealed, serial-matched bar is faster to verify, not slower.

If you suspect something you already own

Do not file, cut or drill it. Bring it in and we will test it free of charge and tell you straight away what the results show, whether or not you sell to us. If a bar fails, you will want documentation of where it came from, and destroying it makes that harder.

The simplest protection

Buy recognised formats from a dealer you can walk back into, keep the packaging, and have anything bought privately checked before money changes hands. Free verification takes a few minutes at 1646 Victoria Park Avenue and costs nothing.