Wednesday, July 28, 2010
HOW (
No, it's a serious question. Have you ever thought about how you would destroy a 10 ounce silver ingot? And why?No? Well, you may find it useful to start thinking about doing so.Please read on ....All silver sold in UK and weighing above 7.78 grammes has to meet certain criteria. These criteria are explained in another of my guides, but suffice to say that it's not lawful to sell as silver, any item over that weight unless it is hallmarked or exempt. Exemption criteria vary, but any item sold as bullion is an exempt product. IMPORTANT TO NOTE: bullion is exempt, but there's nothing stopping you asking an assay office to mark it for you, after testing.This means that if an ingot of silver bullion is sold as ".999" or "fine" and it turns out to not be so, then the matter is one for the local trading standards office. Of course, we instinctively trust those 10 ounce bars made by Johnson Matthey, Wall Street Mint, NWT, etc. We just know that they are .999 silver and, quite rightly, there's a thriving market in them as buyers seek to invest in this precious metal. But we buy on trust, as there's no official mark on these bars to tell us what the metal really is.Unfortunately, as more buyers flood into the market, so there will inevitably be the odd seller here or there who seeks to take advantage of the exemption that applies to bullion. And what better way to do that than to buy cheap "scrap" silver, (bracelets, candlesticks, rings, etc.) and turn it into shiny "new" silver.Of course, any seller melting old scrap silver down and recasting it into ingots stamped ".999" or "fine silver" would be misrepresenting those items if they weren't actually ".999" or "fine silver". And, without doubt, anyone who did sell recast silver would no doubt have the ability to overcome the big hurdle of refining from, say, Sterling (.925) into Fine (.999).As I do a quick search through eBay, I notice several instances of sellers offering .999 silver bars for sale. And some of the bars on offer look plainly amateurish.BUT .... let me be very clear here
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