If you are considering purchasing gold Krugerrands, the official gold bullion coins of South Africa, it would be a good idea to familiarize yourself with this unique coin. Essentially, you should really develop the skills to determine if a Krugerrand is a fake. Hopefully you’ll never need this skill, but it’s nice to have and relatively easy to learn.
The easiest way to avoid buying a fake Krugerrand will be to only deal with a reputable seller, particularly a coin dealer who specializes in or has extensive experience with Krugerrand coins. These traders will have been dealing with these coins for some time, and should be able to easily tell when a coin is not feeling right. Also, reputable coin sellers will be concerned about their reputation, so they will really have an incentive to make sure they only offer genuine gold coins.
While that’s one step you can take, remember that it’s also relatively easy to verify the authenticity of a Krugerrand on your own. The standards for these coins are published by the South African Mint and are publicly available, so you can compare the coin you are thinking of buying against these standards. Also, you should know that gold has some special characteristics that make it unique. Specifically, it has a very high density, higher than that of other readily available metals. If someone decides to create a fake Krugerrand made from one of these other lesser metals, the difference in weight should be quite noticeable if you know what you should be looking for. And you should be aware that metals that are as dense as gold are either very hard to come by, very expensive, or quite brittle. All of this is to your advantage when trying to spot a fake.
In terms of physical characteristics, this is what you should be looking for: a 1oz Krugerrand has a weight of 33.930g, a diameter of 32.77mm, a thickness of 2.84m and 160 teeth around the rim. A half-ounce Krugerrand has a weight of 16.965 g, a diameter of 27.07 mm, a thickness of 2.215 mm, and 185 teeth. A quarter-ounce Krugerrand has a weight of 8.482 g, a diameter of 22.06 mm, a thickness of 1.888 mm, and 150 teeth. And finally, a 1/10-ounce Krugerrand has a weight of 3.393 g, a diameter of 16.55 mm, a thickness of 1.35 mm, and 115 teeth.
To carry out these tests, you’ll need a fine-grained ruler that has millimeter markings plus an accurate scale that can weigh in grams. As a substitute, there is also a very useful device known as a Fisch Tester that can test all of these things for you. It comes with a coin-shaped recess used to check the shape, a slot to check the thickness and diameter of a coin, and a fulcrum to check the weight of a coin. The Fisch Tester will save you time and effort and can make spotting a fake much easier. At the same time, you should be careful when buying a Fisch Tester on eBay because, in a twist of irony, there have been some reports of Fisch Tester knockoffs being offered there. To be safe, you may want to buy directly from Fisch.
Armed with this new knowledge, you should now have the ability to spot a fake Krugerrand on your own. Best of luck on your gold trading adventures!