Tungsten-Filled 10 Oz Gold Bar Found In The Middle Of Manhattan's Jewelry District

[Troller Durden]

Thanks Terp.

A bit dense lately......

[Da Ghost]

'All that glitters is not gold;
Often have you heard that told:
Many a man his life hath sold
But my outside to behold..."

"The Merchant of Venice" (Act 2, Scene VII), William Shakespeare

[vikingwoman]

Quote:Which, sadly, is fitting considering our main story from last night was the realization that an unknown amount of Chinese iron ore had either never existed or had simply vaporized, and was no longer serving as the secured collateral to various liabilities circulating in the electronic ether.

The west and the east have been at currency economic war now for awhile...and on one hand the Chinese lost their collateral, it can also be said that the West might have lost their collateral.

I wonder now, just how much more valuable Silver will get in relation to that - since it may be more difficult to duplicate and counterfeit???

[Hero Protagonist]

Now you know why they were pushing CFL lamps, they need the tungsten for the gold bar filling!

[Terpentin]

(09-19-2012 07:33 AM)vikingwoman Wrote:  [quote]

I wonder now, just how much more valuable Silver will get in relation to that - since it may be more difficult to duplicate and counterfeit???

I would be content with silver realigning with its historical ratio to gold, which would put it somewhere around 100 bucks.



*note to self: buy moar silver*

[Jessica6]

(09-18-2012 10:26 PM)Talon Wrote:  It is one thing for tungsten-filled gold bars to appear in the UK, or in Germany: after all out of sight, and across the Atlantic, certainly must mean out of mind, and out of the safe. However, when a 10 ounce 999.9 gold bar bearing the stamp of the reputable Swiss Produits Artistiques Métaux Précieux (PAMP, with owner MTP) and a serial number (serial #038892, likely rehypothecated in at least 10 gold ETFs across the world but that's a different story), mysteriously emerges in the heart of the world's jewerly district located on 47th street in Manhattan, things get real quick. Moments ago, Myfoxny reported that a 10-ounce gold bar costing nearly $18,000 turned out to be a counterfeit. The discovery was made by the dealer Ibrahim Fadl, who bought the PAMP bar in question from a merchant who has sold him real gold before. "But he heard counterfeit gold bars were going around, so he drilled into several of his gold bars worth $100,000 and saw gray tungsten -- not gold. The bar was filled with tungsten, which weighs nearly the same as gold but costs just over a dollar an ounce."

What makes so devious is a real gold bar is purchased with the serial numbers and papers, then it is hollowed out, the gold is sold, the tungsten is put in, then the bar is closed up. That is a sophisticated operation.
...

Definitely not Chinese then. I've seen their knock-offs.

Probably not Russian either, though they do much better work.

[Lydia]

What would stop Israel from doing the deed? They have the gold and diamond markets bascially tied up? Just sayin...

Great way for them to shore up their finances and fund their impending aggressions.

Edit* The guy who bought the faux gold is a chemical engineer and owns the store that purchased the bar. Found that kind of interesting.

[vikingwoman]

guess where most of the tungsten is produced from?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Tungst...ed%292.PNG

from the wiki link:

Gold substitution

Its density, similar to that of gold, allows tungsten to be used in jewelry as an alternative to gold or platinum.[6][52] Metallic tungsten is harder than gold alloys (though not as hard as tungsten carbide), and is hypoallergenic, making it useful for rings that will resist scratching, especially in designs with a brushed finish.

Because the density is so similar to gold (tungsten is only 0.36% less dense), tungsten can also be used in counterfeiting of gold bars, such as by plating a tungsten bar with gold,[53][54][55] which has been observed since the 1980s,[56] or taking an existing gold bar, drilling holes, and replacing the removed gold with tungsten rods.[57] The densities are not exactly the same, and other properties of gold and tungsten differ, but gold-plated tungsten will pass superficial tests.[53]

Gold-plated tungsten is available commercially from China (the main source of tungsten), both in jewelry and as bars.[58]

smoke, fire...

We have steel inventories that were supposedly the collateral that was backing up China's currency suddenly vanish, we have high level party leaders canceling meetings last minute, and we have Chinese protesters going nuts against Japan and US all of a sudden - we are seeing a hard landing of China's economy and its not going to be pretty.

[Lydia]

(09-19-2012 01:46 PM)vikingwoman Wrote:  guess where most of the tungsten is produced from?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Tungst...ed%292.PNG

from the wiki link:

Gold substitution

Its density, similar to that of gold, allows tungsten to be used in jewelry as an alternative to gold or platinum.[6][52] Metallic tungsten is harder than gold alloys (though not as hard as tungsten carbide), and is hypoallergenic, making it useful for rings that will resist scratching, especially in designs with a brushed finish.

Because the density is so similar to gold (tungsten is only 0.36% less dense), tungsten can also be used in counterfeiting of gold bars, such as by plating a tungsten bar with gold,[53][54][55] which has been observed since the 1980s,[56] or taking an existing gold bar, drilling holes, and replacing the removed gold with tungsten rods.[57] The densities are not exactly the same, and other properties of gold and tungsten differ, but gold-plated tungsten will pass superficial tests.[53]

Gold-plated tungsten is available commercially from China (the main source of tungsten), both in jewelry and as bars.[58]

smoke, fire...

We have steel inventories that were supposedly the collateral that was backing up China's currency suddenly vanish, we have high level party leaders canceling meetings last minute, and we have Chinese protesters going nuts against Japan and US all of a sudden - we are seeing a hard landing of China's economy and its not going to be pretty.

Ding Ding Ding, we have a winner here! What can we give the lady!!!!

[vikingwoman]

thanks Lydia :)

So now, we suddenly have an unannounced Japanese stimulus - they said that the Chinese conflict is costing Japan more than the tsunami - that is how dependent they are on their businesses in China...

And China has suffered a shitload of flooding and storm disasters this summer which no doubt is causing domestic issues.

China blows - the whole card castle is going to blow down....