2009 Silver Panda

Gotta love these 2009 Pandas I picked up in China

These Pandas are nice. While you got 'em in China, I'm a bit leery about buying Chinese SILVERs here in the US. Does anyone know what would be the suggested way to avoid the fakes?

I have a Panda, but it's a teeny weeny 1/20 oz. gold one.

1. compare the coin with other one ounce rounds to make sure it is the right size (all .999 rounds should be the exact same mass, seeing as how silver is an element)
2. weight (buy a small jewelry scale - only like $25)
3. drop test
4. look at them with a loop - a coin made by a real government mint should have sharp detail and consistent lettering; counterfeits can look good from afar, but can often be detected in the details.
5. know what you're shopping for, ie, know the exact pattern you are after ahead of time

Personally, I would never buy these because they are harder to re-sell due to China's reputation of counterfeits. Just ask Moboman's dad about fake Chinese silver.

AGgressive Metal wrote:
Personally, I would never buy these because they are harder to re-sell due to China's reputation of counterfeits. Just ask Moboman's dad about fake Chinese silver.

It was actually my brother that bought the bar, because he wanted something shiney. My dad just brought it to the club meeting.
Luckily he got the money back for that bar. I dont remember the details. I remember it was supposed to be a hundred gram bar, but it was really only 88 grams on the scale. He paid melt value for it.

This is only the second time I can think of how paypal's system was actually a good thing. The seller wouldnt refund because he claimed his supplier said they were 100gram bars. So tim opened a dispute, I mailed the bar back for him, and then paypal refunded the money.


The bar was this kind of style, the ebay seller he bought from is no longer a seller and those bars are no longer on ebay.
http://cgi.ebay.com/2010-Chinese-Tiger-Year-colored-commemorative-bar-100g_W0QQitemZ320463981763QQcmdZViewItemQQptZCoins_Bullion?hash=item4a9d244cc3
This one claims that it's only silver colored though and that it weighs a hundred grams where as his bar the seller claimed and it was stamped .999 silver 100g.

I bought these coins at a large government authorized dealer. If they were selling fakes there is no where safe. You can see a little 1/20th Platinum one, a 1/10th gold and the rest are silver. I had no issues selling a few for a little profit at a local dealer.

Where in North America can one get legitimate Pandas? They are cool, but I wouldn't want to drop test my silver coins to determine authenticity.

Apmex sells them (I think). I sold a few off to the local coin dealer who happily bought them without hesitation for a big ($7 an oz)premium. I was trading for gold due to space limitations. J and M in Vancouver (deals with US customers all the time) had them in stock last time I visited. The premiums are stupid high though. I'll grab more next time I'm in Beijing. The premiums were not as bad there.