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I am really interested in learning how to validate that any gold I buy is legitimate. I didn't realize that was possible for "just a normal guy." Do you have mo

by javert 7y ago

I am really interested in learning how to validate that any gold I buy is legitimate. I didn't realize that was possible for "just a normal guy." Do you have more information about this? Like, is there a guide? Obviously the first thing to do would be to get the equipment you mention to detect tungsten. But what about the "if the cladding isn't sufficiently think" issue? How do you deal with that possibility? Would you have to drill into the gold, or something?

ryanmercer 7y ago
>I am really interested in learning how to validate that any gold I buy is legitimate. I didn't realize that was possible for "just a normal guy." Do you have more information about this? Like, is there a guide? Nitric acid and 'touchstone' are an ok start, but if you have a larger specimen it could just be clad. https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Touchstone_(assaying_tool) https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Touchstone_(assaying_tool) You can buy that kinda stuff at sites like https://www.goldfeverprospecting.com/goteki.html https://www.goldfeverprospecting.com/goteki.html which have the black stone/touchstone, test needles, acid etc. You can also do electronic testing, this used the conductivity of the specimen to give you a (generally accurate) idea of what purity of gold you are dealing with, this is usually used for jewellery. It's alright if you are familiar with gold jewellery, have a kt stamping and just want to do a quick non-destructive test. You can do a specific gravity test via water displacement. You can do XRF testing (if you've ever watched Cody's Lab he has one of these handhelds they vary in price and quality). But if you really want to know for sure you have to do destructive testing like fire assay. If something is decently thick you'll need to drill it too, you'll even see this with silver once you start to get to the 100 troy ounce range sometimes.
- javert 7y ago
  Thank you for taking the time to write this up! Yeah, Cody's Lab is great. Would buying gold coins as opposed to bars avoid this issue? I mean, I'd still want to test using the chemical and electric kits you mentioned. But is it safe to say that you can't hide tungsten inside a coin, and/or is there a foolproof way to detect that---without drilling it---since coins are thin? I really don't want to have to use a destructive test. Since this is a startup site, if the answer to my question about coins is negative, I wonder if there could be a market for gold that is shaped in such a way that it can be easily verified? I did run across an outfit selling tiny gold "squares" that you could break off and give to people, but can't find it now. So maybe the idea of gold that you can 100% verify at home has already been done, though I don't think that was spiel.

by javert 7y ago

ryanmercer 7y ago

>I am really interested in learning how to validate that any gold I buy is legitimate. I didn't realize that was possible for "just a normal guy." Do you have more information about this? Like, is there a guide? Nitric acid and 'touchstone' are an ok start, but if you have a larger specimen it could just be clad. https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Touchstone_(assaying_tool) https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Touchstone_(assaying_tool) You can buy that kinda stuff at sites like https://www.goldfeverprospecting.com/goteki.html https://www.goldfeverprospecting.com/goteki.html which have the black stone/touchstone, test needles, acid etc. You can also do electronic testing, this used the conductivity of the specimen to give you a (generally accurate) idea of what purity of gold you are dealing with, this is usually used for jewellery. It's alright if you are familiar with gold jewellery, have a kt stamping and just want to do a quick non-destructive test. You can do a specific gravity test via water displacement. You can do XRF testing (if you've ever watched Cody's Lab he has one of these handhelds they vary in price and quality). But if you really want to know for sure you have to do destructive testing like fire assay. If something is decently thick you'll need to drill it too, you'll even see this with silver once you start to get to the 100 troy ounce range sometimes.

javert 7y ago
Thank you for taking the time to write this up! Yeah, Cody's Lab is great. Would buying gold coins as opposed to bars avoid this issue? I mean, I'd still want to test using the chemical and electric kits you mentioned. But is it safe to say that you can't hide tungsten inside a coin, and/or is there a foolproof way to detect that---without drilling it---since coins are thin? I really don't want to have to use a destructive test. Since this is a startup site, if the answer to my question about coins is negative, I wonder if there could be a market for gold that is shaped in such a way that it can be easily verified? I did run across an outfit selling tiny gold "squares" that you could break off and give to people, but can't find it now. So maybe the idea of gold that you can 100% verify at home has already been done, though I don't think that was spiel.