HGE (H.G.E.) Heavy Gold Electroplate
What is HGE?
There are growing numbers of replica and imitation coins and gold bars being listed on eBay and elsewhere.
H.G.E. is an acronym for Heavy Gold Electroplate. It is also an oxymoron. The thickness of the gold plating is almost certainly very thin. the thickness of plating is hardly ever specified, and then probably not reliable.
Fools' Gold
The vast majority of the auctions and adverts we have seen for HGE goods have very sloppily written descriptions. We guess that these desciptions are deliberately vague, possibly because the sellers don't know, don't care, and certainly don't want the potential customers to know the items are a pile of near worthless crap.
The expression 'HGE' (or H.G.E.) is often used by fraudstsers, con-artists, crooks, ebay vendors, and other dodgy would-be salesmen, to refer to gold-plated imitation and replica coins, bars, medallions, and other garbage, to the greedy, naive and stupid. It is best to avoid buying any of this crap, and the conmen who peddle it.
The description of these items often makes them sound official, good, real, or desirable in some other way; sometimes the truth is presented in small print, or in an oblique way, possibly as some kind of legal defence in case the vendor is challenged or accused.
What Carat (Karat) and Does it Make any Difference
Whether it is pure gold, 24K, 24Kt, 24Ct, 24 carat, 22K, 22Ct, 22Kt, 22 carat, 18K, 18Ct, 18 carat, 18 karat, it hardly makes any difference, at least to the total gold content, as the thickness of plating is likely to be very thin indeed.
Clad, Filled, Layered
Clad, filled, and layered are other similarly misleading terms we frequently see used to describe base metal junk.
Often combined with HGE as part of a description.
|
|
2010 Dated Australian 100 Mills HGE Gold Plated Medallion Obverse
Bullion Coin Selector Page
2010 Dated Australian 100 Mills H.G.E. Gold Plated Medallion Obverse
|