# Anyone ever heard of this way to test gold and silver?



## jimdoc (Sep 9, 2011)

Anyone ever heard of this way to test gold and silver?
If it works, why does it work? Or is this just a joke?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XaBFjWHJH84&feature=related


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## Anonymous (Sep 9, 2011)

I guess it is possible,considering gold and silver are so soft,and base metals are not.But the coin had me a little baffled,they were no U.S. coins produced iun 1967 that were solid silver.And even the ones before 64' were only 90%.


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## goldsilverpro (Sep 9, 2011)

Did the plated items have a lacquer coating on them? That's pretty common to prevent tarnish and to prevent the super thin plating on cheap costume jewelry from wearing through too quickly in use. The silver plated earring sure was bright and shiny with no tarnish. Maybe it wasn't silver plate. Maybe it was rhodium, which is extremely hard and wouldn't abrade easily. She wouldn't have known the difference.

Are the makeup and face powder mild abrasives? I would guess that they are. I have semi-polished gold and silver items several times by making a slightly damp (almost dry) paste of baking soda and rubbing it on the item with my fingers. My fingers turned black quickly from abrading off traces of the metal.


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## Claudie (Sep 9, 2011)

mic said:


> I guess it is possible,considering gold and silver are so soft,and base metals are not.But the coin had me a little baffled,they were no U.S. coins produced iun 1967 that were solid silver.And even the ones before 64' were only 90%.



She was using a Canadian half dollar. :|


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## Harold_V (Sep 9, 2011)

She's adorable---but her "test" borders on being worthless. As Chris alluded, silver is often plated with rhodium, and when it's not, silver plate will respond virtually the same way sterling or coin silver does. Same applies to gold plated or gold filled items. I expect the chain she showed was lacquered---assuming it was gold plated. May not have been---just brass plated and lacquered. 

If you want _reliable_ tests, lose the idea that makeup will serve. It won't. There's nothing quite like nitric acid, Schwerter's solution and a file to perform tests. 

Harold


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## Claudie (Sep 10, 2011)

The cartoon character "Underdog" would bite his Gold coins to test them.


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## macfixer01 (Sep 12, 2011)

Two hours wasted watching random Youtube videos later.... Geez thanks Jimdoc! They're like potato chips, one just leads to another. :lol: 

Was also really disgusted to see all the fake coins and bullion being talked about on there. Silver from Nepal being diluted with Cadmium of all things. Yikes!

macfixer01


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## Claudie (Sep 12, 2011)

macfixer01 said:


> Two hours wasted watching random Youtube videos later.... Geez thanks Jimdoc! They're like potato chips, one just leads to another. :lol:
> 
> Was also really disgusted to see all the fake coins and bullion being talked about on there. Silver from Nepal being diluted with Cadmium of all things. Yikes!
> 
> macfixer01



Been there and done that.... :|


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## Palladium (Sep 12, 2011)

Look out Megan Rose !!! It's the Martha Stewart of gold refining. ROTFL


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## Richard36 (Sep 27, 2011)

Palladium said:


> Look out Megan Rose !!! It's the Martha Stewart of gold refining. ROTFL



Lol!!! 
We need a "Like" button on this forum.


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