Fools Gold?

[aussiedigger]

I dug this out 8 inches down at low tide. Looks like gold and is really heavy like gold.
It has two hacksaw cuts, one large one on top and a smaller one on the bottom. It shows the same colour throughout.
It also has either a hallmark or some type of asian symbol on the bottom.
I don't have a gold tester to check it.
Any ideas on what it is? Could it be a weight for scales or is it......solid gold?

[clifftronics]

id get it checked asap, looks like a good hunk of gold, keep us posted, wheather its real or not, if not still a cool find, what did it way?

[aussiedigger]

Originally Posted by clifftronics

id get it checked asap, looks like a good hunk of gold, keep us posted, wheather its real or not, if not still a cool find, what did it way?

Nearly had heart failure when i looked into my scoop,dont have any scales but it is really heavy.It cant be gold i'am not that lucky.make a great paper weight.

[Megagold]

Companies to not set their marks into junky jewelery...Looks gold to me and maybe your lucky this time! Good luck!

[emfederin]

Looks like gold to me, although the coloring inside the sawcut looks suspicious.

The markings are completely unfamiliar to me, so they give me no clue.

Definitely worth a trip to a coin shop or jewelry store to get it checked.

If you're desperate, gold is 1.7x heavier than lead, so if you have any birdshot, buckshot or fishing weights and an accurate gram scale, you could measure a volume of lead equal to the volume of your ingot and weigh them. You can get the volume using a glass/cup/bowl/tin of water just barely large enough to hold the ingot. Pour water into the container until it reaches the brim (and covers the ingot, of course). Then take the ingot out and start dropping pieces of lead into the water until it reaches the brim again. Then pour out the water and weigh the lead and compare the reading to the weight of the ingot. If the ingot is notably heavier than the lead, you've got yourself a few grand worth of gold.

[2212]

Wow...what a hunk! Hope it works out for you. Sweet find none the less.

[aussiedigger]

[QUOTE=emfederin;1262331]Looks like gold to me, although the coloring inside the sawcut looks suspicious.

The markings are completely unfamiliar to me, so they give me no clue.

Definitely worth a trip to a coin shop or jewelry store to get it checked.

If you're desperate, gold is 1.7x heavier than lead, so if you have any birdshot, buckshot or fishing weights and an accurate gram scale, you could measure a volume of lead equal to the volume of your ingot and weigh them. You can get the volume using a glass/cup/bowl/tin of water just barely large enough to hold the ingot. Pour water into the container until it reaches the brim (and covers the ingot, of course). Then take the ingot out and start dropping pieces of lead into the water until it reaches the brim again. Then pour out the water and weigh the lead and compare the reading to the weight of the ingot. If the ingot is notably heavier than the lead, you've got yourself a few grand worth of gold.[/QUO



The white colour is just polish residue.!

[Steffen70]

China mark their gold different than we are used to. - with charrecters like on your ingot.

Please get someone to check it, and tell us the result.

looks awesome to me!

GL

/Steffen

[Lineweed]

you are lucky, i can read chinese

This kind of ingot is traditional to the Chinese, called a Sycee http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sycee
The name is derived from the Cantonese dialect, meaning "fine silk" 細絲 (you guys can pronounce it as "see-sir", its close enough.) We call the "Sycee" a yuánbǎo 元宝.

Your pictures are very blury, esp 2nd and 3rd (the 1st is just a design and does not mean anything to me) what i can clearly see is the 2nd character in the 2nd picture, jin1 or 金 - it means "gold" The 1st character is too blury for me to confirm what it is. It could be 千, or 正, or 足 (if its 足, you are one lucky guy - it means gold of a purity higher than 22k!)

The sections uncovered by the hacksaw cuts are not promising though, they look grey. Even if it is perhaps a fake, it looks heavily gold plated to me. maybe someone tested for its purity with a hacksaw and decided to throw it at the beach?

I'm sure Australia has a significant population of Chinese (I have relatives who immigrated there myself). It's popular with Westerners because of its unique shape and wikipedia says "Today, imitation gold sycees are used a symbol of prosperity by Chinese and are frequently displayed at Chinese New Year. Reproduction or commemorative gold sycees continue to be minted as collectibles." My family do display this during CNY ourselves, but they are normally empty and plastic don't want to spend too much on decorations.

Perhaps its sort of a tradition to throw gold plated sycees into the water over there? I cannot imagine someone who would bring a sycee to the beach, much like how you guys won't expect someone to bring a 100g gold ingot to the beach either. It belongs to the safe deposit box at the bank

Bring it to one who can test for gold and tell us the results

[aussiedigger]

Thanks for the info all we can make out is the first sign (gold ) you mentioned. At least it is probably a heavy fake ingot we will see, my theory is some one hacksawed it to test if it was real gold, on finding it was not threw it into the ocean.

[emoryjim]

Nice find either way. Of course gold would be better

[Right Brain]

Can you post a clearer picture/close-up of the hacksaw mark? would help a lot. A good way to take clear close-up pictures is: with the camera, get close to the object first - then zoom out in macro mode.

[CanSlaw]

Originally Posted by aussiedigger

Thanks for the info all we can make out is the first sign (gold ) you mentioned. At least it is probably a heavy fake ingot we will see, my theory is some one hacksawed it to test if it was real gold, on finding it was not threw it into the ocean.

After seeing the different color in the hacksaw mark in the picture on the right, that was my same thought. Lineweed's explanation was fantastic, thank you. It is amazing what we can learn from these forums.

Please let us know what the gold test comes out to be.

[Franz]

I hope it turns out to be the real deal! If you have a scale, there is a water test you can do that will tell you what kind of metal it is (and even gold k). I did a search, but cannot find it. Maybe someone else knows how it works and can help.

[midas]

Originally Posted by aussiedigger

It has two hacksaw cuts, one large one on top and a smaller one on the bottom. It shows the same colour throughout.

If it is the same color throughout it is probably gold. Being that it is hacked up you could aqua regia it or smelt it. If any or all of it is gold either method will recover the gold & remove any other metals.

Aqua Regia: https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&....0.JKhoyncekes

Smelting Flux: https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&....0.ON78h_S18HA

You could also soak it in hydrochloric acid. It's best to heat it. It must be done outside & stay away from the fumes! It won't disolve the gold. If it disolves where the cuts are you will know the insides are not gold. hydrochloric acid = muriatic acid sold at any pool supply, home depot, lowes, ect. It's about $7 per gallon.

[Dirtfishin]

Very nice, I'm hoping for you...

[Lineweed]

Originally Posted by aussiedigger

Thanks for the info all we can make out is the first sign (gold ) you mentioned. At least it is probably a heavy fake ingot we will see, my theory is some one hacksawed it to test if it was real gold, on finding it was not threw it into the ocean.

although your picture is still pretty blurry, I can finally make out what the 1st word is. Congratulations, it seems to me that the 1st character really is 足!!! the upper and lower part of 足 seems very faint.

Otherwise it looks like 下 a.k.a "down" (xia4 - looks about 1/2 the size of the character 金) if so it makes no sense - "down gold...?"

So my conclusion (if the stamp is to be believed) is that what you have at hand is a heavily plated gold sycee. Since its almost certain to be fake, I'm not sure as to the purity of the gold (though 足金 means higher than 916).

Yea my guess is a guy bought it from some shady businessman saying its solid gold, was advised to test it out by sawing it (rather crudely...), realized he was duped, and chucked it at the beach in anger

Apparently he doesn't understand what 足金 means though - i think the seller might have really plated the sycee with >916 to fool people who don't test deep enough.
In short, the gold plate should still be worth something, especially if the item is large.

P.S you said the white color is polish residue? well then wash it away! if its becomes yellow, then you. are. golden!

Originally Posted by midas

If it is the same color throughout it is probably gold. Being that it is hacked up you could aqua regia it or smelt it. If any or all of it is gold either method will recover the gold & remove any other metals.

aren't aqua regia reagent components controlled? At least they are here, I know they aren't obtained easily. I've heard that a bad mix of aqua regia (or the recovery solution, not sure which) can simply dissolve you gold and render it unrecoverable, so you might need some practice. also do it in a well ventilated area, there's a reason why it dissolves even gold.

[midas]

Originally Posted by Lineweed

aren't aqua regia reagent components controlled? At least they are here, I know they aren't obtained easily. I've heard that a bad mix of aqua regia (or the recovery solution, not sure which) can simply dissolve you gold and render it unrecoverable, so you might need some practice. also do it in a well ventilated area, there's a reason why it dissolves even gold.

Aqua regia does disolve the gold. It's easy make and buy the acids. It's like anything else it has to be done correctly.

https://www.google.com/search?q=nitr...w=1440&bih=754

[imalookin2]

You mentioned, and some may have missed it, the saw notch has polishing cream in it. Take a hack saw and saw some more. If the flakes are gold then you have a find there. If they are grey then throw it back for good luck.

[NCBounty15]

Regardless of its purity, that still is a pretty neat paperweight! I'll be watching to see any more confirmation.... HH
NC