knowledge of testing your silver pays off

[jason1977]

Today I received a Northwest Territorial Mint 1 ounce art bar. It was in a hard case sealed in what looked like mint plastic.

I was suspicious of the bar because the back was different from the other 2 bars, so out of the mint plastic it comes.

It passed the magnet test

It passed the ice cube test to the point of frosting over and being frozen itself pretty darn quick.

It passed the ring test.

Out of the plastic it weighs 32.60g.

I weighed a few things for comparison. (PALMSCALE8)

The 2 other NWT- art bars I have IN plastic weigh 32.60g & 32.55g. My new bar is 32.60 out of plastic.

My Engelhard weighs 31.34

A Johnson Matthey is 31.29

US Silver Eagle 31.23

Here's the kicker: I think this heavy NWT- bar is genuine because the ring on it is beautiful and resounding.

Has anyone ever had a bar & come to the conclusion that despite a slightly different back side and being a gram and a half heavy, it is simply just a bar minted on a different machine and generously heavy?

I was holding it with a ton of scrutiny but I've been pleasantly surpised.

Look at the middle bar, on its bottom right corner & compare it to the other 2 bars. That & it's weight made me suspicious but it's simply a generous ounce.

[HawkHybrid]

you should do a fair comparison and weigh it in plastic?

 

I would consider doing a SG test as the lettering is off and

the weight should be off. 

 

don't you think it's too much of a coincident that the other 2

have a tight weight difference of a mere 0.05g and it's the

odd one out that has a significant weight difference? surely

some off lettering cannot account for ~1.3g (just pick up

a sterling threepence and you get an idea of what 1.5g is in

silver)

 

I doubt they are that slack with qc and am thinking it can still

be a fake.

 

HH

[jason1977]

you should do a fair comparison and weigh it in plastic?

 

I would consider doing a SG test as the lettering is off and

the weight should be off. 

 

don't you think it's too much of a coincident that the other 2

have a tight weight difference of a mere 0.05g and it's the

odd one out that has a significant weight difference? surely

some off lettering cannot account for ~1.3g (just pick up

a sterling threepence and you get an idea of what 1.5g is in

silver)

 

I doubt they are that slack with qc and am thinking it can still

be a fake.

 

HH

In plastic it weighs 34.18g.

The other 2 in plastic (same plastic) weigh 32.6g. & 32.55g. -respectively.

The one in question is 34.18g. -in plastic.

[jason1977]

[jason1977]

[jason1977]

Sorry these uploaded sideways, tried rotating the camera but the uploader- does what it likes.

[jason1977]

The thing that gets me is that it sings beautifully in a ring test. Do fakes with funny stuff in the middle sing just as pretty as the real thing?

Couldn't I be just lucky in getting a very healthy ounce? Does that happen? I'm at the point where curiosity is enough where I want to do an acid test.

[jason1977]

Another measurement that is out of whack is the thickness of the bar.

NWT- Mint says their thickness should be .083". Common fakes measure .126" thick.

Mine measures .118" thick.

[HighlandTiger]

An  acid test will destroy part of the bar. Before doing that do a Specific gravity test. This will show you immediately if you have a dodgy bar. 

[morezone]

Yours is .118" thick compared to .083" as quoted by NWTM?   That's over a 40% discrepancy.  With a genuine out of the packaging, you should be able to see and fell the difference.

A common fake at .126 is 50% or so and makes me believe it's a fake.

[HighlandTiger]

I didn't note the thickness difference,  This bar is 5% over weight, but 42% larger. Sorry but I'm afraid you don't even need to do an SG test. It's a fake. 

[garthy]

Sorry to hear this Jason, I've also been done on ebay but was to late to get my money back.

 

So when you say it passed the magnet test did you mean the 45 degree test? Where you slide the magnet down the silver at 45 degrees and the magnet finds resistance.