Three generations have cherished the "heirloom" as a gold ingot, but it turns out to be a copper ingot.
The Provincial Gold and Jewelry Testing Center: Nine out of ten "gold ingots" brought in for testing are fake.
"Is this 'gold ingot' actually a copper ingot?" asked Wang Huaqing, a seventy-year-old man, as he asked the staff at the Guizhou Provincial Gold and Jewelry Testing Center to appraise his family heirloom. After receiving the appraisal results, Mr. Wang was unwilling to believe it, but the center's director firmly stated that the family heirloom was actually a gold-plated copper ingot.
According to Mr. Wang, his grandfather had left two "gold ingots" passed down from their ancestors to the family, which they had kept at home. The family considered them to be antiques and treated them as treasures. Due to urgent financial needs, Mr. Wang decided to sell the "gold ingots" on the market while visiting his hospitalized younger brother in Guiyang. However, vendors offered only a few hundred yuan, much lower than expected. Surprised by how little his "family heirloom" was worth, he decided to seek an official appraisal.
Unexpectedly, after testing at the Provincial Gold and Jewelry Testing Center, the "gold ingot" turned out to be a gold-plated product with a copper core inside. Director Wang Bing of the center explained that although the weight and volume of the "gold ingot" were similar to those of real ones, closer inspection revealed its copper-red color and lighter weight. "There are also many such fake gold ingots on the market," warned Wang Bing. He reminded that about 90% of the gold ingots they tested were counterfeit. Some people claim to buy "gold ingots" in rural areas to resell, but in reality, most use fake ingots to deceive others. Collectors should be cautious when identifying them.
Reported by Lu Dan