Gold or not gold. That is the question ...............................

! am trying to identify if this is real gold or not .

This is a piece of quartz about 1 1/2 inches by 1 inch by 1/2 an inch indiametre with a darkish gold coloured coating on the outside on half of it with specks of bright gold strewn throughout the rest of it and with thin veins of gold running through the bright white quartz.

This is not mine ,so i can`t bring it home to test with the detector . It is a heirloom found in a big pile of quartz near the centre of Ballarat around the 1850`s during the gold rush , so i am not going to try to fool you into thinking it is mine ,because it isn`t.

I have tested it with the pinpointer ,but it doesn`t get a reaction and the gold doesn`t scratch off ,so it is not paint or ink . If it is a very thin layer of gold all over it and through it , is this why my pinpointer won`t pick it up ?

Is this what they call conglomerate gold ?

It is an interesting piece and weighs only 54 grams.

I have put up a few pictures so you can get a clear idea of what it is and i have tried to get the colours of the pictures as close to what i was seeing with my bare eyes as i could.

As a "newbie", I have no idea, however I'm sure someone else will be able to enlighten you ... but that's a very pretty rock

I am no expert but I am pretty sure gold will set off a pinpointer, could be pyrite but I could be corrected on that. ?

Gold or not,doesnt matter. The story behind it is more valuable than any gold content. imho. Nice rock. Hope it is gold though. Cheers.

its pyrite iam sorry but if you soak in vinegar you get peacock ore

Looks like fools gold mate. Weight does not match. size of specie. good story and glad you found something. Soak in alibrite to remove quartz if you wish. But i would leave it and be happy

cheers

Yep looks like pyrite .
Nice rock though.

Nice speci but.
Most fools gold will reflect great, but with a slight turn,(shaded) it looses its luster of reflectiveness? .
And rarely has nice flat faces.
Easily scratched or scarred with a Stanley knife.
Quite often there is no doubt if it really is gold

Good pics but hard to tell. Numerous pics leads me to think its only pyrite.

At best theres small gold inclusions, but if that were the case you could see a distinct difference, gold being more yellow, pyrites brassy.

If there is in fact gold inclusions they lock to be small at the underside of the quartz content, in pics 6 & 9, yet look too dull and brassy in the others.

Pics 1, 2 and 4 look exactly like Id think pyrite would look like.

Is this series of photographs under sunlight or artificial light?

Thanks for all the replies.

The pics were taken under old fluoro lights in a small room and i still got a bit of shine out of it.

The colouring looks strange to me and i expected it to weigh heaps ,but the pyrite theory is along the lines of what i was thinking.

The person who owns it is going to have it valued at some stage ,so i will let you know what the outcome is. Might be a while ,but i will wait in anticipation.

It belonged to this person`s great , great grandmother and this person remembers the property it came from , growing up as a kid.

this is peacock ore i was talking about made from soaking chalcopyrite in vinegar

Yep Pyrite, have plenty of similar Pyrite here :Y:

indi said:

this is peacock ore i was talking about made from soaking chalcopyrite in vinegarhttps://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/img/member-images/14416/1576918199_peacock_ore.jpg

Click to expand...

They are beautiful pieces , Indi.

So the Streak test would be the best way to identify it as pyrite ? It should come out black on a porcelain plate ,is that right ?

Or is there a better method that is recommended ?