Tungsten-Filled Gold Bar Found in U.K. -- Here's Why You Should be Worried

Here’s an unsettling story out of the U.K.:

Last week, the gold dealer ABC Bullion received an email from one of its refinery partners warning them about a Metalor 1000gm Au bar that had been drilled out and filled with Tungsten.

“This bar was purchased by staff of a scrap dealer in [the] UK,” the email states.

“The bar appeared to be perfect other than the fact that it was 2gms underweight...The owner of the business that purchased the bar only became suspicious when he realized the weight discrepancy and had the bar cropped. He estimates between 30-40% of the weight of the bar to be Tungsten."

With the price of gold skyrocketing, should we expect to see an increase in these types of gimmicks? Probably.

In fact, as the writers at Zero Hedge point out, this is the second time in two years this sort of thing has happened.

“The last time a story of Tungsten-filled gold appeared on the scene was just two years ago, and involved a 500  gram bar of gold full of tungsten, at the W.C. Heraeus foundry, the world's largest metal refiner and fabricator,” the Hedge reports.

“So two documented incidents in two years: isolated? Or indication of the same phenomenon of precious metal debasement that marked the declining phase of the Roman empire.”

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