How to Spot Fake Gold & Silver: The 2026 Testing Guide

At-home tests that actually help

None of these is perfect, but together they catch most crude fakes:

• Magnet test. Gold and silver are non-magnetic, so a strong magnet catches cheap iron or steel fillers. It misses tungsten and other non-magnetic fakes.
• Dimensions and weight — the best home test. Genuine bullion is minted to tight tolerances. With calipers and a precise scale, most fakes are off on weight, diameter or thickness because base metals are less dense than gold or silver.
• Ping / ring test. Real silver rings with a long, clear tone; fakes thud. Great for silver coins, less reliable for gold and poor for bars.
• Ice test (silver). Silver has the highest thermal conductivity of any metal, so an ice cube melts noticeably fast on a genuine silver coin.
• Acid test. Reliable but destructive — it marks the metal, so it's for scrap, not investment pieces.

Why tungsten fakes fool most tests

Here's the catch that trips up even careful buyers. Tungsten has almost exactly the same density as gold (about 19.3 grams per cubic centimetre versus gold's 19.32). That means a gold-plated tungsten bar can pass the magnet test, match the correct weight and dimensions, and even pass a specific-gravity (water displacement) test — the very checks that catch every other fake. Tungsten cores are the reason the density test alone isn't enough for larger bars, and why serious verification has to read through the metal, not just its surface.

The tests dealers use

For a home buyer, a Sigma Metalytics verifier is the most practical single upgrade: it measures conductivity through the whole item (and even through the assay-card packaging), which is exactly what catches a tungsten core that surface tools like XRF miss.

The counterfeits to watch for

Fakes cluster where sourcing is weakest: open marketplaces, unknown or overseas sellers, and any deal priced below spot. Genuine bullion never sells below its melt value.

• Tungsten-filled gold bars — a gold shell around a tungsten core, aimed at larger sizes where the metal cost is highest.
• Plated base metal — brass or lead coins and bars with a thin gold or silver layer.
• Counterfeit coins and fake graded 'slabs' — complete with cloned holograms, barcodes and certificate numbers, sometimes even a mirror-clone verification website.
• Fake assay cards for branded bars like PAMP. Verify the serial and, for graded coins, check the certificate number on the grading company's official site — never a link from the listing.

The one habit that keeps you safe

All the tests in the world matter less than where you buy. The single most effective protection is to buy sealed, serial-numbered product from an established dealer that sources only from LBMA Good Delivery refiners and sovereign mints — never from anonymous sellers — and to keep the assay card or certificate with the item. That's exactly how we operate: every coin and bar we sell is sourced from accredited mints and refiners and backed by our authenticity guarantee. Read the details on the authenticity page, see our best gold bars guide for what genuine assay packaging looks like, and browse verified stock in the shop.