Another Thing That Drives Me Crazy... Differences In Purity Marks

1.0 pure Gold has never been achieved to my knowledge, even in a laboratory. Some speculate that Gold that pure would even look clear, like glass. Even if 100% pure Gold were possible, as soon as it came into contact with anything, the holder, the atmosphere, anything, it would no longer be 100% pure.

here is one of the "1000" purity Chinese "doughnut taels... normally there is a "9999" or ".9999 there.

contrary to what some think when they see the "1000", it is not the monetary value of the coin but the purity. google "Chinese doughnut gold taels" to see more.

so are we saying that the Chinese are fudging just a tad? I agree, just exposing this thing to air would problably knock the purity down...

mike

then again, we get these... while the doughnut itself says "1000", most often the more honest sellers will still advertise or state that it is as being ".999" pure, despite the 1000 purity designation.

taels are roughly 1.2 oz (troy) or 37.5 grams

sorry, but what about the original question... should there be a worldwide standard on these 24k doughnuts, rounds, bars or whatever, should they all stamped as a standardized 9999, 99.99, 999.9 or 9.999 or .9999 ?

or do I just have too much time on my hands to think about such silly things....?

They could just stamp it with 24K and be done with it. There is no 100% pure gold, to my knowledge. I once read that the reason Chinese or Asian coins had holes was so that they could wear their money on a necklace.

You are right Libertad, they can be used as pendants for necklaces, the dealers use the holes to string them together as well as stacking them on a stick.

so the "1000" mark is not accurate then and the Chinaman is fudging a just a tiny tad bit on the purity stamp is what I gather from this discussion.

thanks for the inputs... mike

There's no such thing as 100% purity in gold. If it was, it certainly wasn't clear as glass. It'd be just as shiny as as .999 gold: it is in fact possible to make gold sheets so thin that they become transparent. In that case, the sheet will transmit green-blue light, as gold reflects yellow and red (hence the color you see: this characteristic of the chemical element will not change at 100% purity). Also, even though gold is largely non-reactive with oxygen and 'regular' air, a bit of reaction with the environment cannot be excluded, as gold actually does react at some degree with some elements under certain conditions, hence the .999 and not the 1.000. However, compared to most other natural elements on this earth, the amount of elements it reacts with and the extent of the reaction are so little, that gold is seen as one of the least reactive elements in the periodic table.

You don't need to be a professor in chemistry to know this, just basic knowledge will do.

Also, I'm not sure about those marks in your nuggets. Knowing that 1000 doesn't exist, seeing that these chopmarks look like post-nugget-damage, and knowing how much fake gold leaves China, I'd consider having them tested if I were you.