There's Something Fishy About This Gold Nugget

I almost want that nugget and I don't have any gold in natural form yet. Yes, I suppose it is a rare kissing blob gold fish.

With small gold nuggets, their price can often be as much as double the refined spot price. Small time mineral specimen collectors love them.

Enter the fakers.

Melted coin gold can be poured over a height into water filled bucket, with gravel on the bottom of the bucket.

Voila! Fake 'natural' gold nuggets!

BEWARE!

Have a good look at this one. Maybe the same scenario, without the gravel, but perhaps been through a lapidarist's tumbler for a few minutes, to give it a 'genuine' surface.

Penquin, laying on it's side. :)

That "nugget" looks remarkably similar to the silver shot that was given out for the redemption of $1 silver certificates in the 1960s.

Metal shot is manufactured in this way with the molten metal passing through a screen to establish the drop size and falling from a height to let gravity form the drops into spheres. Water at the bottom both quenches the hot metal and softens the impact so they don't get damaged. That should work for silver and gold too.

If the gold or lead shot is allowed to fall from a great enough height, it will solidify.

To make fake gold nuggets the gold is poured from a very low height, so it has nowhere enough time to solidify. It hits the water in a molten state, and changes into random shapes. The shapes can be very roughly controlled by the drop height.

Same applies to the depth of water. If the depth of water is too great, small pieces of gravel will not stick to the gold, because it would have already solidified.

It follows that the drop height through air must be small, and the depth of water must also be shallow.

As an avid amateur gold prospector I can say that I have never pulled anything out of the water that shape. That is not to say that gold isn't formed like that though. Erosion from water can do a lot to gold over time.

Really, the only way to be sure, and this isn't fool proof if the faker has any real brains, is to ask where the nugget came from and then perform a purity test.

What I mean is this: gold in California has a different purity than gold from North Carolina/Georgia does. Obviously, if it tests to greater than 23K, it is probably refined and a fake. Like I said though, this is not fool proof as anybody with half of a brain can duplicate a natural karat by adding impurities.

Furthermore, you can find 22 karat + gold in Cali even though it is more likely to be closer to 20-21 karat.

Am I making sense? I'm starting to confuse myself. Nuggets do carry a premium over spot price. But it has to be a pretty special looking nugget, and usually, the bigger the better.

Josh

I saw on the news, where an ebay sller sold a chicken nugget which looks just like George Washington for 8100, and the buyer backed out. Perhaps the smartest move they ever made. I would much prefer that golden fish verses that 3 year old chicken nugget.....

I thought I made some SAHDY buys, but I have never bought any piece of food which looks look a president or Jesus yet. Key word, yet. rof....