are 250g/500g/1 kg bars hard to forge

[craig12]

just wondering if theres many fakes on e bay for bigger bars  ie metalor , theres some good prices on 1kg bars 

i also lwould like to get into 250g 500g  but not sure if there are fakes on e bay ,  i look at some and they show a picture of the certificate with the bar which matches the serial number 

i always send them a message to ask if they have the original invoice from a bullion dealer , you read so much about fake bars , just wondered if the certificate was evident then that guaranteed  a genuine bar 

regards craig

[HelpingHands]

A potential issue with large bars is that they could have been filled with another metal.

[craig12]

but if you had the serial number certificate and the bar matched why would you cut  and shut it 

[Shamatti]

I have never heard of any of these big bars being faked. But lets face it - if you can go to all the trouble of faking a silver bar, faking a little bit of paper to go with it isn't going to be a major headache is it?

 

Why are you worried? Have you heard of any of these items ever being faked?

[Bullion World]

I think you'll be fine if you stick with known brands. If it's a random refiner you've never heard of on the other side of the world, or an "old poured" bar with little markings, there's no point risking it unless you prepare to fully test it. I prefer new poured / cast bars. The shiney, minted bars would be much easier to forge. Fake, smaller minted silver plated bars are already circulating. Non magnetic too. So no reason they can't make bigger versions. Certificates mean zero really except in some peoples minds. You have a refiner about an hour away from you who get their bars assayed as the Sheffield Assay Office. Their stamp means a tonne more than any paper. Either way, if you stick with Metalor or Umicore silver bars from eBay, you should be fine. I'd stay away from the likes of PAMP and Valcambi minted bars from eBay as tempting as they are.

 

There was a famous case of a 1kg Metalor Gold bar being hollowed out and replaced with tungsten rods, but that's gold. The largest fake silver bars I'm aware of are 10oz minted Engelhard