Safely Buying Gold and Silver Bullion
Gold and Silver Bullion
The world of gold and silver bullion can be daunting to a person new to investing in such items. Because of this, there are a number of ways unscrupulous individuals and unethical businesses can ‘get one over’ on people simply trying to invest their money in a safe haven for the future. These practices can range from intentionally misleading to downright criminal. It is my intention to help you identify these products so you can avoid them in the future.
One of the most common practices you will see is misleading markings. A good example of this is the 2011 Cook Island $5 1/10 .24 Gold bullion coin. This coin is the size of a 1/10th ounce gold bullion coin, and indeed weighs 1/10th of a troy ounce, but the coin is only 24% pure gold. So rather that containing 0.10 of a troy ounce of pure gold like a $5 American Gold Eagle 1/10th coin, it contains a mere 0.024 of a troy ounce of gold. Legally, it is correctly marked, but the .24 percentage is clearly being used to make people think of 24kt gold.
Another common misleading marking is silver and gold bars that are marked ‘1 troy ounce 100 mills .999 silver’ or ‘1 troy ounce 100 mills .999 gold’. This means the bar is base metal weighing out to 1 troy ounce including the weight of 100 mills of silver or gold plating. Again, technically this is legal, but it is also intentionally misleading to the public.
The third thing you may encounter is outright counterfeit silver and gold bars. These are usually marked like they are real gold or silver bullion but may only be a small fraction of that they are advertising, if they contain any precious metal at all. These can include gold or silver bars that are filled with tungsten, copper or lead with a heavy gold or silver shell around it, to outright copper and nickel fakes. Some do not weigh the correct amount. The easiest way to avoid this is to always buy silver and gold bullion from a trusted source such as a local gold or coin dealer, or a trusted online seller. Also, always remember that if a deal sounds too good to be true, it probably is. No one with real gold or silver will sell it for below the spot price.
Rancho Gold and Jewelry is a trusted precious metal buyer and seller. We use a mix of experience and our high tech X-Ray Spectrometer and Precious Metal Verifier to ensure everything we buy and sell is 100% genuine and never misleading.
- by: Admin
- 15 Dec, 2018
- 5233 views