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Fakes & Fraudsgold plaque..?..

4th Dec 2012 00:32 UTCDermot Walsh

hi and thanks...i`m trying too sort out if this small plaque might be au..i`ve done no testing..and seek opinions..of the likelyhood..

Thank you in advance

Seasons Greetings and Best Wishes

dermot

4th Dec 2012 01:55 UTCgoldguy24k

I bought this in the 70's, the diamond is unique? any help on value measure 10" wide by 7" high by 8" deep.

Newbee needs help. I can email photo, 3mgs, Jim

4th Dec 2012 02:13 UTCPaul Brandes 🌟 Manager

Looks more like a brass plaque to me Dermot.....

4th Dec 2012 10:50 UTCRock Currier Expert

Take a tiny shaving from the side of the plaque and put a drop of nitric acid on it. It it is gold, it won't change very much. If it dissolves completely it almost certainly doesn't have much gold in it.

4th Dec 2012 13:12 UTCOwen Lewis

Good advice as always from Rock and I'd place a small bet on Paul being right.


If you find conc HNO3 hard to source (as it is, privately, in the UK now) you could check its SG, if you have or can borrow a scale that is accurate to 2 decimal places when measuring in carats (the smaller the object the more accurate one's scale needs to be to get a reliable SG). If you get an SG of 10.40 or higher, the chance of 9K gold is good. Pure gold (24K) is 19.32. The SG's of the several karat standards of gold alloy are actually not precise because of the the ratios of the base metals in the alloy are not fixed - only that of the gold content - so samples of any of the alloys may have an SG that varies within a small range.


The one you should look out for is brass (an alloy) which will have an SG in the range 8.4 - 8,7.



A particularly dangerous trick is pure lead flashed with gold which will have an SG of 11.34 or a little more, depending on how thick the gold covering is. Some 50 years ago, when Aden was a significant duty-free port and a port of call for tourist ships, gold sellers would go out to the ships in small boats, selling bars of 24K 'gold' to the tourists. The top side of these would bear the stamp of some prestigious institution. To show that the bars were solid, the traders would slash the base with a strong knife, which would (as fine gold does) open up almost as easily as cheese, showing no change in colour. Some tourists would have a proper assay (using nitric acid) done ashore and the stuff would pass with flying colours. However, cut a bar though and the gold on the top and sides would be revealed as no more than about 1mm thick in gold, and maybe 5 times that thickness in the base. The heart of the bar being pure lead.....

14th Apr 2013 04:48 UTCFranklin Roberts

Looks like a brass plaque taken from a trophy or an award given to somebody named Sherr Gold in 1985.

14th Apr 2013 19:55 UTCTim Jokela Jr

Interesting mine memorabilia. Look it up. Would be wicked cool if it was actual solid gold.

15th Apr 2013 00:49 UTCMark Stanley

It looks like a piece of ore that has been cut, polished and turned into a presentation piece for a company executive or employee.


SherrGold Ltd. operated the MacLellan mine near Lynn Lake, Manitoba in the 1980's. Lynn Lake is about 1000 km northwest of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.

15th Apr 2013 01:05 UTCDermot Walsh

thanks again Mark..i thought some posts may have been missing in this thread...as I knew you had replied earlier .found in the( only from Canada eh!) thread...you are correct..it is polished and gold bearing. .and almost certainly a presentation sample..originally I was going too look for the person who may have crafted it thinking it may have been done locally never did do any tests. .on the plaque though

regards

dermot
 
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