Fake Chinese Silver Lunar Ox with only 1% silver

Recently while busy at work, Mr. Tian suddenly received a phone call from a stranger, who wanted to sell him a type of commemorative album that contained commemorative coins of the Chinese Zodiac. The salesman indicated their high collection value and offered to provide “drop-in service”.

Upon seeing this album, Mr. Tian was beside himself and inspected it carefully. The album was packaged in a fancy box. Inside there were 5 silver coin bars commemorating the Year of the Ox, each were beset with a commemorative seal. Every coin and seal were marked as weighing 30 g and a 99.9% silver content. Mr. Tian also noticed that the box contained an inspection sampling document approved by the Province of Guangdong, though this document indicated only the original would be covered.

“The salesman showed me the ticket price for the album which was marked at 5800 Yuan per set.” Finally after some negotiation, the salesman agreed to sell the set at a discounted price of 2000 Yuan.

To ensure peace of mind, Mr. Tian brought the album he purchased to the inspection center at the City of Tangshan’s Quality Inspection Bureau of Gold, Jade and Other Precious Products in order to verify the authenticity of this set of coins. He was shocked by the results. The coins and seals that are individually marked to contain 99.9% silver in fact only contained a little over 1%. The principal materials found were copper, nickel, and zinc. Copper and zinc comprised, on average 40 to 50%, of the materials. Not only this, what was clearly marked as weighing 30 g, the actual weight of the individual coins and seals was only little more than 20 g, almost 10 g of difference.

“Since this is a commemorative product, it must have a trade name. In addition the product must clearly indicate the amount of precious metal contained and the product’s issuance number. Numbers cannot overlap as each is unique and the total corresponds to the total issued. Moreover, every issue has a corresponding certificate of authenticity.” Ms. Xiaoling Zhou from the Quality Inspection Bureau at Tangshan indicated. The album that Mr. Tian purchased had no issuance number and certificate of authenticity. Without the certificate, the inspection document provided can only cover a batch sample but cannot serve as an authenticity certificate for the commemorative album that Mr. Tian had purchased.

Accordingly, the inspection center at Tangshan’s Quality Inspection Bureau of Gold, Jade and Other Precious Products has specifically warned avid collectors about things to look for before purchasing precious metal commemorative coins. Buyers need to understand among other things the total number of issues, specific dimensions, the amount of precious metal content, designs on both sides, the minting facility, and the packaging of each set of coins that are issued by specific governmental organizations. Having this knowledge will facilitate the inspection process when making a purchase. The coin’s actual weight must match with the standard weight. If there is a significant difference, it is safe to assume that the coin is false. Furthermore, it is very important to demand for the certificate of authenticity which is the only piece of document that explicitly states all the official coin data including the issuance number. This certificate should be stored for safekeeping. If there’s doubt over the authenticity of the product, it should be taken into an inspection center for verification as soon as possible.

source: fakecoin.info