As the 10-year gold bull continues its stunning run, rumors of fakery seem to be cropping up as fast as new Eagles can be minted. Should you be worried? Do you need to run to the coin shop for a home test kit?
Well, the counterfeiters are out there, and have been for millennia, but how to counter them?
You probably remember movies about the Old West, wherein a shady-looking character would offer to exchange a gold coin for a horse, and the nag’s owner would bite down on the coin. That was about all you could do, if you lacked proper assaying equipment and had to make a snap judgment on the fly: depend on your teeth to tell you whether the metal in your hand was sufficiently soft to be genuine gold.
The bite test is actually a pretty good one since gold, despite being among the heaviest metals, is also very soft. If you chomp down and shatter a tooth, it ain’t gold. But does that mean you need to munch your way through your coin collection?
Well, the counterfeiters are out there, and have been for millennia, but how to counter them?
You probably remember movies about the Old West, wherein a shady-looking character would offer to exchange a gold coin for a horse, and the nag’s owner would bite down on the coin. That was about all you could do, if you lacked proper assaying equipment and had to make a snap judgment on the fly: depend on your teeth to tell you whether the metal in your hand was sufficiently soft to be genuine gold.
The bite test is actually a pretty good one since gold, despite being among the heaviest metals, is also very soft. If you chomp down and shatter a tooth, it ain’t gold. But does that mean you need to munch your way through your coin collection?
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