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I would assume real gold bars of this size would have some kind of notion of a certificate of provenance and/or authenticity stamped into it or associated with
by ChancyChance 4y ago
I would assume real gold bars of this size would have some kind of notion of a certificate of provenance and/or authenticity stamped into it or associated with it, e.g. specific symbols or ID numbers that would fall under international forgery laws if duplicated. Because one and 10 troy oz bars come with loads of identification. Of course those can be faked too, but who would be dumb enough to trade in dubious unmarked "gold bars"? The only answers I can come up with sound like James Bond plots.
- dragonwriter 4y agoIsn’t it rather the point of precious metals as a class is that their value does not depend on things like provenance.
- icegreentea2 4y agoMaybe the hypothetical "market price" of gold works that way, but in practical selling and buying provenance can be used as a shortcut for independently determining purity. If you want your buyer to just accept your "gold" without testing, if you have gold without provenance, you're just going to have to accept a discount on your sale. Consider the difference between "merely" 99% and 99.99% gold. On a 1oz coin, that's like ~200USD of value right there.
- throwaway22032 4y agoYou're off by a factor of ten, 1oz of gold is ~2K so it's a 20 USD difference.
- swimfar 4y agoGiven that companies in China are blatantly selling forgeries of US gold coins[1], it appears that they aren't too worried about the consequences. Though maybe it would start to attract more attention if they began counterfeiting larger value items such as these gold bars. [1] https://m.alibaba.com/product/60579932545/Gold-Plated-Tungsten-Coins.html?spm=a2706.7843667.0.0.485c2b4dI8rymJ https://m.alibaba.com/product/60579932545/Gold-Plated-Tungst...