sigma metal verifier

[fiveshotdon]

Has anyone picked one of these up and would recommend them?

Anywhere in the UK they can be picked up reasonably?

[Marko]

@fiveshotdonI bought one recently through an american seller on eBay. I waited for the eBay 10% discount offer, and ended up paying £1242 delivered. I like the machine and it has already weeded out some surprising fakes.

I would recommend saving up to get the PMV Pro version (SM2601S4) as they overcame previous problems encountered with the “bullion” version.

A lot of money to spend, so Check out their web site to make sure it suits your needs

https://www.sigmametalytics.com/instructions/pmv-pro-videos.html

 

[fiveshotdon]

1 minute ago, Marko said:

@fiveshotdonI bought one recently through an american seller on eBay. I waited for the eBay 10% discount offer, and ended up paying £1242 delivered. I like the machine and it has already weeded out some surprising fakes.

I would recommend saving up to get the PMV Pro version (SM2601S4) as they overcame previous problems encountered with the “bullion” version.

A lot of money to spend, so Check out their web site to make sure it suits your needs

https://www.sigmametalytics.com/instructions/pmv-pro-videos.html

 

Out of interest what fakes have you discovered and where did you purchase them?

[Marko]

The fakes were commemorative silver 1 ounce coins from eBay, and also from a local coin dealer. I haven’t detected any fake gold, yet !, but there are many horror stories out there.

[fiveshotdon]

@Marko have you tried it with jewellery? Gold chains specifically

[Marko]

The PMV has a refiners wand and a micro wand to test large precious metal bars (as they do not fit under the sensors), but the Sigma Metalytics verifiers are unfortunately not suitable for testing precious metal in other forms than coins and bars.

[fiveshotdon]

35 minutes ago, Marko said:

The PMV has a refiners wand and a micro wand to test large precious metal bars (as they do not fit under the sensors), but the Sigma Metalytics verifiers are unfortunately not suitable for testing precious metal in other forms than coins and bars.

Thanks for all the info 👍🏻

[Captdeano]

Thank's for the info ,dread to think how many coins might turn out to be not as expected if i were to buy one of these detectors😲😲

[Abyss]

Cannot find anyone selling in the UK it would be cheaper to buy in the US and bring back to UK (ever visiting the states) than pay import charges.

[ilovesilverireallydo]

13 hours ago, Marko said:

The fakes were commemorative silver 1 ounce coins from eBay, and also from a local coin dealer. I haven’t detected any fake gold, yet !, but there are many horror stories out there.

Interesting on the commemorative - got pics? 

[Goldhooked]

41 minutes ago, ilovesilverireallydo said:

Interesting on the commemorative - got pics? 

Aren’t a lot of the commemoratives also produced in cupro-nickel but many sellers haven’t got a clue and advertise them as silver anyway?

[ilovesilverireallydo]

43 minutes ago, Goldhooked said:

Aren’t a lot of the commemoratives also produced in cupro-nickel but many sellers haven’t got a clue and advertise them as silver anyway?

Yes - but many are easy to spot. I buy a LOT of these and have only been conned once.. at least that I know of. 

[Goldhooked]

13 minutes ago, ilovesilverireallydo said:

Yes - but many are easy to spot. I buy a LOT of these and have only been conned once.. at least that I know of. 

Same.  A magnet test is usually enough to spot the Cu-Ni versions.

[Marko]

2 hours ago, ilovesilverireallydo said:

Interesting on the commemorative - got pics? 

This is the photo I posted on the “today I received” thread, not sure if you can clearly make out the coins

[Goldhooked]

6 minutes ago, Marko said:

This is the photo I posted on the “today I received” thread, not sure if you can clearly make out the coins

 

Are those all the fakes?  How do they react to a magnet test?

[ilovesilverireallydo]

The Theresa looks off colour for sure - but should be on 70-80% not 925. 

[Marko]

All of the coins failed the magnet test, with an obvious fake being the Theresia taler. The Taler, with an expected silver content of 0.833 was an obvious fake due to its size, weight and lack of distinguishing features. I have many in my collection and have done a lot of research, however these coins are very often copied and loaded up to eBay.

I don’t rely on the magnet test entirely as, in my opinion, it is not reliable. It is of course better than carrying out an intrusive “acid test”, but really only shows that the coin is not made of Iron, Nickel or steel.

A Neodymium magnet would identify the diamagnetic properties of a silver content coin, but unfortunately similar properties are found in copper (widely used in faking of coins)

The Sigma PMV basic set in essence checks the resistivity of a sample, and would confirm that your sample falls within the expected  parameters of the details you inputted (silver 0.999 as an example). The problem here is that copper has similar resistivity properties, so the coin may still be fake.

The PMV pro goes one step further and allows you to check the expected density of the sample (a copper coin would need to be physically larger to match the equivalent density of a silver coin of a certain purity).

The PMV database however is only calibrated for certain purities, which does not include 0.833 or 0.835 silver, so I still have to use other methods to eradicate fakes for my Theresia Talers ☹️

Sorry for the long winded answer

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Goldhooked]

1 hour ago, Marko said:

A Neodymium magnet would identify the diamagnetic properties of a silver content coin, but unfortunately similar properties are found in copper (widely used in faking of coins)

 

Sorry, I did mean a magnet slide test using a Neodymium magnet.  I didn't know that copper had similar properties though, will have to run a few tests.