Home Gold Testing Kit

[JustAPrepper]

I tried searching for one of these a while back and came up with nothing. I must not have been using the right terminology.

Several years ago we had a yard sale. Lady comes by looking for any old/broken jewelry and offers to pay me...I won't even tell you how much...just remember...I was a Sheeple back then...anyway, I go to my jewelry box and found a broken necklace I didn't care about, one half to a pair of ear rings, a small gold ring I used to wear and a couple odds and ends I don't remember. She pulls out this "kit" to test everything to see if it was real or fake. I don't remember exactly but it seems as though she rubbed everything on this stone???? Piece of cloth??? Then I think she put a couple drops of something either on the stone/cloth or on the piece of jewelry or something like that and was looking for a reaction. She was able to tell that it was real gold and I even think she was able to tell that one of the pieces was 14K plated or something like that.

Anyway, I think one of these kits would be invaluable in a SHTF situation if we're buying/selling/trading/bartering because I don't want end up getting stiffed by a fake piece of jewelry or *counterfeit gold.

(*Counterfeit Gold - I don't expect to be trading full gold pieces but I absolutely expect a few people to be taking hacksaws to their coins or bouillion and shaving off a few pieces here and there as a way to conduct business. That's my personal opinion and YMMV.)

Does anybody know what kind of kit I'm talking about and where I can purchase one?

[Daca102090]

These are unglazed china plates or squares. You scratch a line across the china then get out the acid bottles. They will be marked for 10k, 12k, 14k and 18k. you put a drop of the acid on the gold line you scratched. If nothing happens then you go to the next higher K for the purity. If the 10k acid doesn't touch it but the 14k acid bubbles it off then the gold content is above 10k but less than 14k.

This is where the term "Acid Test" comes from. Now this will not distinguish between solid gold, gold filled or gold plate. Just tells you the quality of the gold that was scratched.

[Sniper-T]

Most major cities will have a mining/geology department. check your yellow pages. You should be able to buy the kit from them...

or online:
Gold Testing Acid Kit: Star Struck LLC


Here's a few other tests from my files. I don't remember the source:
Various Tests
1 Put a magnet near your gold for this simple test. Magnets attract other metals in the gold. If the magnet is attracted to the gold, then the gold is not pure.

2 Rub your gold against unglazed porclean tile. If there is a black mark left then it is not pure. The black mark means there is pyrite present. Pure gold would leave behind a bright yellow mark.

3 Scratch a piece of glass with your gold. Gold measures between 2.5 and a 3 on the Mohs scale, named after Frederich Mohs, a German mineralogist. The scale measures the hardness of minerals on a scale from one to 10, with 10 being the hardest. Gold measures between 2.5 and 3, while most glass is between 5.5 and 6.5. You can also try a penny, which is around 3 on the scale or platinum, between 4 and 4.5. If you try to scratch the gold against another substance that is harder and the gold scratches that substance, then it is not pure gold.

4 Drop some sulfuric acid on the gold. When a drop of sulfuric acid is applied to pure gold, it will not dissolve. If it begins to dissolve, the gold may be mixed with other minerals.

5 Take your gold to a jeweler. They have proven ways to examine gold and can tell you how many karats (or how pure) your gold is. If you don't trust the first jeweler, take your gold to multiple stores to be sure.

[JustAPrepper]

Thank you both! Sniper, I think the product in your link is exactly what I'm looking for!

[mollypup]

I like the magnet test best.

[Grumpy Old Man]

There are several kits using a measuring method for coins, as so many fake are flooding the market. Another test one could perform is a specific gravity test. I have a friend out here who markets a handheld fluorescing spectrometer, but I doubt any of us not actively engaged in exploration would want to plunk down the cash for one of those.

When I was a young exploration geologist back before Bunky Hunt crashed the silver, and consequently the gold markets we had a variety of tests we used, including visual (with a hand lens sometimes called a loupe) and an amalgamation test. Once you've seen native gold in its natural habitat you will never be fooled by the pyrites again; the same can be said for native silver. The gold and silver minerals (naturally occurring chemical compounds) require more skill and knowledge to identify visually. When a flake or flakes were identified in a hand sample we would gingerly pick them out and take a like amount of mercury and slowly add the mercury to amalgamate with the gold. when a stiff paste was formed it was rolled in a ball. We would then take a potato and cut it in half, scoop out a small hollow, place the amalgam ball in the hollowput the 2 halves back together and wire them "shut" so to speak. We then placed the potato in the coals and left it until the outside was charred. Pull the potato out of the fire, unwire the 2 halves and a small ball of electrum (gold and silver) would remain. We could get a crude estimate of the gold and silver proportions by the color of the button.

All this being said, I spent a number of years both professionally and as a hobbyist learning many of these things including fire assaying and the one thing I can tell is these home test kits only look at one aspect of the whole picture. An acid test is good but it only tells you what the streak is made of, while the Sp.G test only tells you that it may have the appropriate density, while the measurement test only tells you that you have a coin of the right dimensions, and a weight test, by itself only tells you that you have the correct weight. None of these alone or all together tell you that you have a non debased coin, ingot or piece of jewelry.

A lot of counterfeit coins and ingots are coming out of Asia right now and some are very good. Many use tungsten as core with few 1/10ths of millimeters cladding the coin or bar. A genuine bullion bar will have a certificate of purity verified by assay. The same with silver bullion. Bullion coins should only be purchased from a reputable coin or precious metals dealer. Otherwise, caveat emptor!

[Grumpy Old Man]

I forgot to add after you take the ball of electrum from the potato, Throw The Potato Away it now contains the mercury from the amalgam and as such is toxic. This was a common technique in the old days that prospectors would use to consolidate their take when they would cash it out for coins. The scales and gold dust being weighed was not near as common as Hollywood would have you believe.

Here is a reasonably priced tester, but once again do your homework on it Golden Touch Electronic Gold Tester no gel or liquid 9 - 22 K Golden Touch Gold Electronic Tester, Tests Filled Gold and Plated Gold [GT-100] - $89.95 : Scales-n-Tools.com, Enjoy our Selection, Price, and Convenience.

Here is a site dedicated to this topic How To Test Gold - Gold Testers - Gold Testing - Gold Test Equipment & Supplies

[JustAPrepper]

I forgot to add after you take the ball of electrum from the potato, Throw The Potato Away it now contains the mercury from the amalgam and as such is toxic. This was a common technique in the old days that prospectors would use to consolidate their take when they would cash it out for coins. The scales and gold dust being weighed was not near as common as Hollywood would have you believe.

Here is a reasonably priced tester, but once again do your homework on it Golden Touch Electronic Gold Tester no gel or liquid 9 - 22 K Golden Touch Gold Electronic Tester, Tests Filled Gold and Plated Gold [GT-100] - $89.95 : Scales-n-Tools.com, Enjoy our Selection, Price, and Convenience.

Here is a site dedicated to this topic How To Test Gold - Gold Testers - Gold Testing - Gold Test Equipment & Supplies

Thanks Grumpy! I'll check those out. I also really enjoyed reading your experience about the gold and potatoes! Good stuff, even if most of it flew right over my head!

[bacpacker]

Wow Grumpy! Excellent info. I wasn't aware of much of any of that.

[Grumpy Old Man]

Thank you Justa. Some of the tales from the five years I spent in exploration would curl your hair. It was a lot like the old West complete with claim jumpers, brothels, saloons and fraudulent mining schemes. Maybe some time I'll write up some of the more family acceptable experiences.