Chipk
Elite Member
I posted last week about a strange object I found that turned out to be a Victorian Lady's mesh coin purse. As I reported the top is hinged and when you open it, the neck can be expanded so a lady can drop coins, lipsticks, etc into the bag made of the mesh.
Someone asked if it was sterling and I reported that I had acid tested it and it showed 10K. I found several references to these bags on the Internet and they were indeed reported to be made of sterling. But it didn't look like silver and not quite like gold either although more gold-like than not.
So I took it to the best precious metals and antique buyers in town to ask their opinion. They were quite excited over it and said they would test it but they wouldn't scratch it but instead X-ray it.
They put it in a small metal box, closed the lid and pushed a button and in about 3 seconds it reported it was 98% silver, a bit of brass and the rest was gold, so it was gold plated. They said it was the first they had ever seen that was gold plated.
I was intrigued by the machine and jokingly said I wanted one. They informed me I could have one for only $27,000 plus the costs of programming. Maybe I should wait until I find a few more noteworthy items.
Someone asked if it was sterling and I reported that I had acid tested it and it showed 10K. I found several references to these bags on the Internet and they were indeed reported to be made of sterling. But it didn't look like silver and not quite like gold either although more gold-like than not.
So I took it to the best precious metals and antique buyers in town to ask their opinion. They were quite excited over it and said they would test it but they wouldn't scratch it but instead X-ray it.
They put it in a small metal box, closed the lid and pushed a button and in about 3 seconds it reported it was 98% silver, a bit of brass and the rest was gold, so it was gold plated. They said it was the first they had ever seen that was gold plated.
I was intrigued by the machine and jokingly said I wanted one. They informed me I could have one for only $27,000 plus the costs of programming. Maybe I should wait until I find a few more noteworthy items.
