Altering Natural Gold Finds

[AUddicted]

I was thinking it would be interesting to hear your (other members) thoughts on cleaning your gold. One guy I used to hunt with felt very strongly that you should just rinse it with water, no further cleaning, and absolutely no chemicals. What I do, is scrub using a tooth brush (the same one I use daily ) and citrus cleaner. I then soak the gold in Whink for a day then scrub again with citrus cleaner. If it has a calcite/ caleche coating like much of the Rye Patch Chevron gold, I soak it in CLR. I like the gold to be free of any visible iron oxide, manganese, calcite, etc. But I don't like the gold to start getting polished edges and high spots, like what happens from handling it often. I like that natural dull finish it acquires from the Earths fine grit, sand, rocks, natural movement etc...

I noticed this crystalline gold for sale on Ebay. It appears to me that the host rock was dissolved with a chemical that also began to soften the gold itself and polish it? Maybe Aqua regia (nitric acid and hydrochloric acid), but when the host rock was gone the specimen was then neutralized? It does look beautiful, but to me, unnatural. But who am I to decide what should be considered natural or not? Therefore, it is just my personal preference.

But what are the majority of collectors looking for?

To me, one of the most enjoyable nugget discovering experiences is when all you have left in your scoop is a hard dirt clod that ends up hosting a nice gold nugget. The next time that happens, I plan on gently removing the edges of dirt until there is proof of gold and then just save it in that condition (until some day I just get bored and decide to break it open ).

Thanks all...

[jasong]

I'm pretty sure that is a "fake" nugget created by partially melting fines together then removing heat before it buttons up. See it often in the bottom of my crucible when I smelt my own fines to sell to the refiner.

 

People use HF to dissolve quartz, Whink contains a very dilute mixture of it.

 

I don't see anything wrong personally with soaking nuggets in something like CLR or hydrochloric to clean them up, they aren't coins. In my experience they are worth less dirty as far as selling them goes because who wants to pay for junk weight, but I suppose there are collectors out there who want them caliche and all.

[Norvic]

Myself I like to see them natural. A short soak in CLR perhaps but certainly not HF. I recall back a bit I donated a solid clean alluvial nugget of 8grams for a local charity event raffle. Organisers took it to a jeweller and had it buffed, just killed it in my book but not so in the eyes of the ticket buyers, they got many times its value, and the winner was over the moon.

 

They just no longer look natural to me. Guess if your selling and the buyer pays more for it buffed or acid cleaned why not? 

Then when it comes down to dollars, into the smelter, melt down and off to the mint, done, easy, no chasing buyers, no hustle.

But it does seem gold finders have a different view on this than the general public, perhaps that is part of the lure that gets us chasing the stuff. Interesting thread.

[nvchris]

I clean almost all my gold. Since most Nevada has clays and or caliche.

 

If an ultrasonic vinegar and a bit of salt bath don't do it I start using stronger acids.

 

A hard water stain cleaner that works well is Lime Out  (not limeaway).

 

Wink will remove rock, its a week hydrofluoric acid.

 

 

Some don't need a thing,

 

 

[Tortuga]

I just rinse mine off with a little soap and water and a toothbrush, that's it. Don't get it when guys dissolve all the quartz and stuff away in acid. There's nothing cooler than popping a natural nugget right outta the ground.

Rob Allison digs so much gold he doesn't even clean his nuggets off! I don't think he even gives them a rinse in his mouth. Just sees that it's gold and drops them in his poke.

[Glenn in CO]

What are the majority of collectors looking for?

 

I've asked that same question to collectors, dealers and museum directors and it comes down to what type of gold (nugget, specimen) and where the gold comes from is what a collector is seeking. The type of gold varies greatly from placer nuggets, crystalline in wire and leaf form, to how unique the gold nugget or specimen is. The consenses is the majority of collectors want to see "flash". That means seeing gold that has been cleaned to some part or all of the specimen or nugget and again it depends where and what type of gold it is, to how much and what type of cleaning should be done. There are some purist that wish to have the specimen or nugget in natural form, but I found that is a very small percentage. Cleaning specimen gold can vary greatly in leaving none, some or all of the host rock.

Cleaning gold, especially specimen gold is a art that is aquired through trial and error using different chemicals, acids and equipment. Cleaning specimen gold is like opening a Christmas present, you never know what is inside.

 

Here is some examples of gold that I've cleaned, partly cleaned and left natural:

[Relichunter]

Nice work ! I wash mine in water and basically clean the dirt off until I find an expert to do it right. Anyone recommend any mineral dealers in the California are. I am only familiar with Dona and Wayne at Kristalle.

[El Dorado]

I clean my gold in a salt/white vinegar solution in an ultrasonic cleaner.  Purties them up nice, but most N. Calif placer gold is merely dirty and seldom needs acid treatment. That gold in your first post sure does look like flame worked gold, possibly a casting.

 

HF treated quartz gold only looks great if all the quartz is dissolved, IMHO it makes the quartz look very bad.  I have one collector/buyer that used to pay me for microscope work to pick away quartz from HF treated specimans to reveal a natural quartz surface. Very time consuming, but leaves the quartz in its natural shape.