strick Posted June 27, 2019 Share Posted June 27, 2019 18 hours ago, Gerry in Idaho said: I've been a dealer for 25 years and never before have I had so many happy customers making Top Quality Finds. All I can say, is the Equinox and the Multi IQ Technology has to have something to do with all the treasures coming up. Theres something about it for sure...it has so much more to offer then detectors that are in the same price range. strick 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GB_Amateur Posted June 28, 2019 Share Posted June 28, 2019 11 hours ago, Lacky said: Is it weird I would be almost just as excited to find an original time period counterfeit? Interesting question. I suspect the counterfeit is more rare. In its present condition, valuewise I doubt this is worth more than bullion value (~1/4 ozt) even if genuine. On the other hand, as a bucket list find I suspect the gold piece would be preferred by most detectorists, even if the counterfeit were more valuable (and I have no idea if that's the case). Throw in the fact that it's probably technically illegal to own a counterfeit US coin.... Either way a nice find. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UtahRich Posted June 28, 2019 Share Posted June 28, 2019 Gerry, Gold coins are certainly an infrequent find. A friend and I turned one up, an 1881-S $10 gold pieces, screening around in an old Mining town. Rich 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gerry in Idaho Posted June 29, 2019 Author Share Posted June 29, 2019 On 6/27/2019 at 7:52 AM, GB_Amateur said: The 1857 Seated dime is a beauty by itself. I'd be shakin' if I dug that up. Did anyone check the weight on the $5 gold piece? Red Book says 8.359 g when freshly minted. There will be some loss due to wear, but not much. With the exception of tungsten (which is so hard that I doubt you could use it in counterfeiting) the only stable metals that have gold's density are in the platinum group (or neighbors) and extremely valuable in their own right. For example, if it were plated lead it would weigh under 5 g. (Unalloyed lead would probably bend, though.) The reason I bring this up is the corrosion. Even gold that's been in saltwater for centuries (sunken Spanish loot) doesn't look as bad as this, from what I've seen. Certainly possible that it's genuine and looks this corroded, but weighing is an easy sanity check. Definitely not wanting to burst anyone's bubble, but counterfeiting wasn't all that unusual back in the Wild Wild West days, as I'm sure you know. Heck, the mint had to modify the V-nickel (Liberty Head nickel) in 1883 to add the word 'CENTS' on the reverse because people were plating them and passing them off as 5 dollar gold pieces. I politely disagree with some of your points GB_. Yes, the majority of gold coins coming out of the ground are shiny golden....but not all. My 1st gold coin (1852 $2.50) had a black staining on it. The 1st moment, I thought it was counterfeit too. It took some final touch to get most of it off. Many gold coin finds in England are stained differently than the norm. As for gold in saltwater, it is the same way. Most are shiny golden and then a few have staining. Same with gold rings. Some folks will swear gold does not tarnish and I know for a fact it can. Just like the majority of silver coins coming from the ground are shiny silver, but then a few are tarnished. Nice observation and the occasional discovery that is different always adds intrigued views. I'm sure the final cleaning (it is a common date so no worries of lost value) it will look the norm. Yes there are genuine fakes out there and the comments you made are quite helpful in identifying (by weighing the coin) them. Thanks for sharing your views and knowledge. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GB_Amateur Posted June 29, 2019 Share Posted June 29, 2019 2 hours ago, Gerry in Idaho said: Some folks will swear gold does not tarnish and I know for a fact it can. Good reply, Gerry, and thanks for the confirming picture of your 2 1/2 Dollar piece. Experiment beats theory every time! As always a look at wikipedia sheds some light: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gold#Chemistry Although gold is the most noble of the noble metals,[29][30] it still forms many diverse compounds. A good example is Au(CN)2−, which is the soluble form of gold encountered in mining. Gold does not react with oxygen at any temperature.... Gold is strongly attacked by fluorine at dull-red heat[35] to form gold(III) fluoride. Powdered gold reacts with chlorine at 180 °C to form AuCl3.[36] Gold is unaffected by most acids. Gold is similarly unaffected by most bases. It does however, react with sodium or potassium cyanide under alkaline conditions when oxygen is present.... Besides possible chemical reactions with the gold atoms, since most gold items are actually alloys, particularly with copper and silver, those alloyed metals can be the culprit. (US gold coins prior to the recent gold bullion issues contain 10% copper.) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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