Hi There,

[darbyogill]

Just signed up today and have been doing a casual skip through the various sub forums getting a feel for whats going on and trying to get a handle on the terminology......and there seems to be lots of it

My main hobby interest for the last few years has been in wristwatches and I am a member of a few different forums, making watches, buying and selling and working on building up a small collection to pass on.

The reason for signing up here stems from a family heirloom of sorts......

... My grandfather who was a GP had a large box of "gold" gifted to him sometime back in the late 60ies, he passed in the late 70ies and this box came to be my fathers, he had sent off samples of it to various different people over the years and all came back to him with the affirmation that there was gold in it, got a couple of payments and in one unexpected case got a small ingot back and the maker of the ingot keeping some for himself to cover his fee.
This box was consgned to the garden shed for many years and now resides in the attic after a house move.
The box surfaced again this weekend and he asked me to find out whatever I could about how to do something with it.

I very very crudely weighed it today, It is a powder/dust with some other metals mixed in with it (This is probably a totally ignorant description, but I am a TOTAL newbie) I am clueless as to what the components of the powder is but appears to be about 50-50 gold (or what looks like gold) and whatever else is in there. I Poured it all into a large ziplock bag and weighed it on a kitchen scales and it tipped in at around 3 Kilos.

What direction do you guys think I should going research wise to try and find out a bit more about this?

 

[jimdoc]

Pictures will help.

Jim

 

[darbyogill]

Cheers Jim, heres a couple I just took, theres a 10 cent euro coin in one for reference.
The other thing is that I assumed that this was gold and some other metals mixed in with it, when in reality all I really know is that there is gold in there to some degree, what the other stuff is I don't know.

 

[Geo]

for many members here,that would be a simple refine. i understand you have no knowledge of refining, but i can assure you that the material you have will make for one good learning experience.

download this book.its a free download, and is the bible of the forum. it was written in simple to understand terms that anyone can follow. read it and then re-read it and it will explain the test and procedures you will go through to reclaim and refine the gold from your treasure.http://tinyurl.com/mfnyhs

welcome and good luck.

 

[rusty]

Read Hokes Refining Precious Metals Waste, then negotiate a toll refining fee with dad.

Here's another good read by Harold_V one of our forum moderators, on dealing with bench sweeps and refining karet scrap.

 

[nickvc]

It looks to me like lemel from either a diamond milling machine or from engraving and yes that's a sinch to refine. As pointed out by the other members you could do this if you study a little and can do it safely.

 

[rusty]

It looks to me like lemel from either a diamond milling machine or from engraving and yes that's a sinch to refine. As pointed out by the other members you could do this if you study a little and can do it safely.

I would venture a guess that its remants from hand engraving, 3 kg at 14K would net you aproximately $96,000.00 USD. When playing weighing and transferring from bag to bag be sure not to lose any.

You may have to inquart your gold befor your able to refine it. Ms Hoke explains this in detail in the first book you downloaded.

Do keep us updated as you progress with this project.

 

[Harold_V]

You may have to inquart your gold befor your able to refine it. Ms Hoke explains this in detail in the first book you downloaded..

Fine particles such as those can be successfully processed without inquartation. I did it routinely with bench filings. I incinerated, screened (to remove large pieces) then removed traces of magnetic particles with a magnet, then gave the small solids a prolonged boil in nitric acid, followed by a rinse, then dissolution with AR.

The particles are small enough to break down completely before a solid film of silver chloride can form, preventing dissolution. The only real negative is that the resulting solution won't be as clean as if the material was inquarted and parted properly, but if the gold receives a second refining, makes almost no difference, as it will get cleaned up perfectly well in the succeeding process.

Harold

 

[nickvc]

As I usual I have to agree with Harold on this, his plan is exactly the same as I would use were the material mine. The only thing I would change is if there was an element of doubt in which case I'd prefer a melt and assay and then inquartation so we all know the expected yields, I'm sure Harold has been there done that, I know I have, too many times!

Edited for spelling doh!

 

[darbyogill]

Many many thanks for the replies and advice, I'll get cracking on the reading material right away..........it looks pretty daunting though

 

[Harold_V]

Many many thanks for the replies and advice, I'll get cracking on the reading material right away..........it looks pretty daunting though

Yes, it looks daunting, but that's because you don't understand the procedures yet. That's exactly why you're instructed to start reading. Once you understand the procedures, you'll come to realize that they are not difficult----just regimented. You do what you must do, and you do it as you are instructed. When you do, the results are very predictable.

The biggest problem we face on this forum is new readers that demand they be told, in a nut shell, how to refine (not implying you did that. Far from it, in fact!)

What they fail to grasp is that until they understand the basics, all the instruction in the world won't really help them, for all one bit of information does is lead to the next badly needed information. We, as a group, have come to understand that if it's not important enough for the one making the inquiry to do what is required to gain an understanding, it is also not important enough for us, as a group, to spend our time trying to help. That's exactly as it should be, for it doesn't accomplish the task. I commend you for your attitude and willingness to approach this project as it should be approached.

Harold