| Author |
 Replies: 41 / Views: 4,613 |
|
|
|
Pillar of the Community
Canada
5308 Posts |
It's reading the other 3 elements, still 61% gold is close to 15 karats, which is also a weird composition, back in the 70s the security was quite lacking maybe an employee experimented with a cuff link or a jewellery piece, if graded would attract great attention if promoted right
|
|
Pillar of the Community
Canada
869 Posts |
I agree with Terry T...I was under the impression that XRF doesn't penetrate very far into the coin. What did SPP have to say about the results?
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
3393 Posts |
Perhaps SPP-Ottawa needs to step in and explain the results.
|
|
Pillar of the Community
 Canada
1049 Posts |
In SPP's letter he feels it is a normal coin with a very thick plating of gold, hopefully he will chime in and offer more of a detailed explanation.
|
|
Pillar of the Community
Canada
1463 Posts |
If it was indeed gold at around 14kt-15kt a person should expect to see apx 30-40% reduction in thickness at your posted weight. A density test may be the only way to tell? If it's regular thickness it should weigh more if 61% Au is the composition all the way through.
|
|
Moderator
 Canada
10449 Posts |
It is a normal 1 cent coin, struck fully in collar and the same weight as a normal bronze cent. It is gold plated. That was clearly explained in my letter, so why you didn't share that information here with your post yesterday?
Look at the elemental composition. A normal bronze cent is Cu, Sn and Zn... then, a plating of gold was added to the coin. You do not get alloys of gold with tin and zinc in them. The plating was thick enough to attenuate more than 50% of the X-Ray beam's power. The X-Ray dislodges electrons from various element's orbital shells... which then releases energy back to the detector... the beam only does this from the surface to a minor depth of the coin (for example, the XRF cannot penetrate thick gold cladding (more than a couple mm thick)...
You have a plated, normal 1-cent coin... do not pretend it is anything else...
"Discovery follows discovery, each both raising and answering questions, each ending a long search, and each providing the new instruments for a new search." -- J. Robert OppenheimerContent of this post is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses...0/deed.en_USMy eBay store
|
|
Pillar of the Community
Canada
799 Posts |
 YES ! Nailed it  !
|
|
Pillar of the Community
Canada
1049 Posts |
Roger, ty for doing the xrf, as for me pretending for it to be something else not so, I posted the results from the box and did not read the rest until Sunday sunday afternoon after work.
Sorry to see you think I was trying to be misleading with this I'm not that shallow of a man.
|
|
Pillar of the Community
Canada
1463 Posts |
|
|
Moderator
Canada
10449 Posts |
M_d_in_guy glad to hear that... it is a good conversation piece and a great means to teach others not to get fooled, even with XRF results.
"Discovery follows discovery, each both raising and answering questions, each ending a long search, and each providing the new instruments for a new search." -- J. Robert OppenheimerContent of this post is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses...0/deed.en_USMy eBay store
|
|
Moderator
Canada
10449 Posts |
Quote:
Is this a prank? No, this is a valuable lesson in showing others that "black box" technology such as portable XRF instruments can give results that can be very misleading, if not interpreted correctly. A few months ago, John Regitko wrote in his error column about a Canadian silver 50-cent piece that was nickel-plated, then tested with an XRF, which, of course, showed it to be a certain percentage of nickel, silver and copper... that is a dangerous example of how technology can be misused to interpret something that it is not... Another example is the "titanium core twoonie" which was derived from an older Russian-built XRF machine with the iridium beam being attenuated in the inside titanium alloy of the instrument itself (designed to protect the user from the X-Rays)... Methodology and understanding the limitations of the XRF is important. This is not just black box technology - an understanding of the periodic table and orbital shells of various elements is crucial, as peak interferences can yield false readings. The instruments you see in coins stores and jewelry shops are mostly calibrated for detection of a few key elements in a series of yes/no tests... they are not to be relied upon for numismatic research.
"Discovery follows discovery, each both raising and answering questions, each ending a long search, and each providing the new instruments for a new search." -- J. Robert OppenheimerContent of this post is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses...0/deed.en_USMy eBay store
|
| |
Replies: 41 / Views: 4,613 |
First Page
Previous Page
Posted 12/02/2018 1:01 pm
