Imagine this scenario:
I walk into a coin dealer/exchange, he pulls out a drawer with many gold coins, which are not the standard/recognizable 1 ounce bullion types. He says they are from Greece, Gibralter, Iraq, whatever.
They are smaller coins in different sizes/weights.
He points out some that some are 22 karat, some are 24 kt gold.

Question - Is there a quick and easy way to check the metal itself?
At this point I'm not wondering whether the coins are numismatically faked, I'm only wondering whether the metal content is what he says it is.

Any tips? Is there equipment that is needed to test faked gold, or are there other tests? Is there an "easy" way to spot fake gold? Is gold-plated lead the only imiatation out there, or are there others?

Please bear in mind where this question comes from - I'm a novice!!
If it has already been discussed elswhere, point me to a link to avoid wasting your time?
Thanks.

Do a specific gravity test on the item.

http://miningold.com/scale.html

IF you are looking for bullion gold, the best thing is if you have your own personal digital weight scale and if the owner is really nice enough, a caplier to measure the diameter and thickness of the gold coin.

That said, mass test would usually kill at least 50-75% of the test. Appearence too would be easy to notice as most counterfeiters would try to use cheap metal to counterfeit it. However, if you are dealing with expensive coins, like some rare Italian, Russian gold coins, there are REALLY good high quality counterfeits out there! But since you are dealing with major bullion coins, I wouldn't go too far in yet

Thanks, that's what I need to know. A scale seems to be the way to go.
I'd imagine that somebody selling 24 kt coin wouldn't be happy about a buyer putting a caliper to it...

Specific gravity test is a bit hard to understand, I'm no physicist!!

Just curious -
The weight of a 1 ounce 9999 maple leaf is given as 31.103 gram.
The weight of a 1 ounce 9999 Australian nugget is given as 31.162.

Any idea why the difference?

Also, another website lists the weight of the maple as 31.15.
Are these differences significant?

I assume fake gold have a much bigger difference than a few hundredths of a gram?

I am just going by memory
a real 100 FF Napoleon III would be around 30 grams
the same in silver that is gold plated would be below 20 grams
http://www.simetric.co.uk/si_metals.htm

On the other hand there are fake sovereigns made of pure gold
If you only pay the gold price you do not really care they are fake ( in the sense of illegal restrikes )

If you question the integrity of the dealer, I would recommend walking out of the shop. Any honest, legitimate dealer will not be selling anything fake, and if you do discover something as being fake, the dealer should be happy to rectify the situation.

Now comes the tricky part. If you are looking strictly for gold as bullion value, then just pass on the obscure "Greece, Gibralter, Iraq, whatever", and stick with the standards that have a proven track record, such as Sovereigns, Nuggets, Mapleleafs, Eagles, Philharmonics, etc. If you are looking for gold as collector coins, then do yourself a favor and do the research beforehand, and know what you are looking for/at.

I am buying for bullion purposes, so I have been staying with the more well-known 1 ounce coins.
But when somebody puts a tray of such cute little gold coins in front of you, it's hard not to go "hmmm...."


Integrity of dealer? That's really hard for me to tell. Most of the coin dealers here are small one-off shops. I go for the ones that seem to have more people doing business there, seem more open and that display their coins openly (under glass), as opposed to taking them out of a drawer and putting them away as soon as possible....