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Report of 1 Kilo Gold Bar Filled with Tungsten Found in UK
Coinweek.com ^ | Mar 26, 2012

Posted on 03/26/2012 2:54:56 PM PDT by KeyLargo

Report of 1 Kilo Gold Bar Filled with Tungsten Found in UK

March 26, 2012

“What appears to be a tungsten filled gold bar has been found – this time in the UK. It is believed that a scrap dealer bought the Metalor 1 kilo gold bar of 99.98% purity from a member of the public.

Metalor are a leading international gold refiner and bar manufacturer, headquartered in Zurich. The bar appears to have been tampered with and may have had holes drilled into it or melted out and then had tungsten rods inserted or tungsten poured into the holes.

Tungsten is a metal with a similar density to gold but which bullion dealers and experts in physical bullion can easily identify.

It follows an incident of a tungsten filled gold bar (500 gram) originating from an unnamed bank being found by Heraeus in Germany two years ago [See Video Below] and there have been rumours of tungsten filled gold bars in Asia, China and in Vietnam.

There was also an unverified report in 2009 that the Chinese received a fake shipment of gold that, in fact, was tungsten. The bars have led to much speculation regarding the possibility that some of the gold bars making up central bank gold reserves may not be investment grade gold bullion.

Presidential candidate, Ron Paul has raised the question as to whether the gold bars in Fort Knox are authentic and even asked whether some of the US gold reserves have been secretly sold off and asked questions regarding the authenticity of the US gold reserves gold bars.

In the UK, there have been doubts about the quality of Britain’s paltry remaining gold stock as some of the gold bars are reportedly cracked, have fissures and are ‘beginning to crumble’. The Bank of England have denied suggestions that the gold may have been ‘adulterated’, and insisted that most of the hoard is in ‘mint condition’.

The incident shows the importance of dealing with reputable and trusted experts in physical bullion coins and bars and with dealing with counter parties who take these issues seriously.”


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Crime/Corruption; Foreign Affairs; Government
KEYWORDS: 201203; archimedes; bullion; counterfeitgold; counterfeiting; fake; fakeingots; fortknox; fraud; gold; goldreserves; ingots; isolatedincidents; preciousmetals; robbery; scam; tungsten
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To: KeyLargo

About two weeks ago the market was hit with someone selling one million ounces of gold, it was speculated as a war time tactic to buy fuel and munitions, but that was just a speculation and why gold dropped from its high perch by nearly $100 and ounce.


41 posted on 03/26/2012 5:19:47 PM PDT by Eye of Unk (Liberals need not reply.)
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To: KeyLargo

Save...


42 posted on 03/26/2012 5:26:02 PM PDT by Randy Larsen (No Romney vote from my family!)
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To: I cannot think of a name

I saw this in some 1970s tv show/movie shortly after gold became legal to own in the US again.

The team “borrows” a colleague’s newly purchased gold investment bar to push as the randomly selected bar from the gold-coated tungsten stash they’re selling to some criminal.

The pushed bar is sawed in half, they get the money, swap the real cut bar for a faked cut tungsten bar, and skedaddle.

The criminals use a power saw on other samples, revealing the white tungsten.

Obviously, the ending scene is where the colleague gets his bar back in pieces and filings.


43 posted on 03/26/2012 5:30:34 PM PDT by Calvin Locke
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To: DManA
Or, (if you don't have a Greek handy)... Enter the three numbers into a spreadsheet that calculates the density of the gold and compare to the expected density.

The density of tungsten is just 1.45% greater than that of gold, so the difference will be very small. So, make sure your scales are accurate and that the result is within 0.5% of what is expected.

44 posted on 03/26/2012 5:32:29 PM PDT by The Duke
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To: DManA

He didn’t have to measure the volumes accurately.

All he had to do was put a bucket on each end of a balance, level the balance, and then put the overflow water from the crown in one bucket and the overflow from the reference mass in the other bucket, and see if they were the same weight.


45 posted on 03/26/2012 6:00:16 PM PDT by DuncanWaring (The Lord uses the good ones; the bad ones use the Lord.)
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To: Greysard
There aren't even any metals, AFAIK, that would crack or crumble just by laying on a shelf.

Cheaply-cast industrial "white metal" will do some interesting things as it ages. Vintage model train collectors have horror stories of their precious pieces becoming almost too fragile to move lest they crumble.

That said, it'd be pretty hard to mistake that stuff for gold.
46 posted on 03/26/2012 6:48:38 PM PDT by M1903A1 ("We shed all that is good and virtuous for that which is shoddy and sleazy... and call it progress")
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To: KeyLargo
"We have decided to cut him"

He fired the employee who discovered the fake gold bar...the "old Fox".

47 posted on 03/26/2012 7:44:20 PM PDT by Deaf Smith
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To: Noumenon

“Open wide for Chunky!”

CA....


48 posted on 03/27/2012 1:09:16 PM PDT by Chances Are (Seems I've found that silly grin again....)
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To: Chances Are

“Open wide for Chunky!”

I liked the dark chocolate ones with raisins.

As for the gold fraudsters, I expect that they’ll be opening wide for something.


49 posted on 03/27/2012 2:46:30 PM PDT by Noumenon ("I tell you, gentlemen, we have a problem on our hands." Col. Nicholson-The Bridge on the River Qwai)
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