I noticed today when I was filling up on gas, that they were selling
for $10 these bottles filled with water and some flakes of what the
stand said “guaranteed 24 karat gold”
Since I absolutely cannot afford to buy much let alone even a
pennyweight of gold, I thought this might be a tempting target for
resourcefulness.
I was wondering. could these really be gold? And if they are, could I
drop the flake on some solid silver and melt the gold over it?
Theres never a dull question from your good self!! Any chance of some
feedback sometimes? Well, lets look at the numbers, if there selling
for 10 there buying for 5, the makers will have costs of no more that
2.5.
for the bottle, water gold and distribution.
So the gold is likely to be less than 20 cents, if that.
the only way to find out is to buy one, recover the gold and weigh
it. tho I doubt if that small amount is weighable even on a good
micro digital scale.
Are you supposed to drink it? If you want gold, your best source is
scrap electronic circuit boards. There be lots more gold on those
than in the water.
I’ll be interested in what others who know far more than I will say.
I have one of those little bottles and recently experimented with
placing some of those “flakes” on some enameled pieces. So far so
good. I think (can’t remember for sure) they were the last step on
something I sugar fired. I am really liking the results but am eager
to learn more. I would also like to know where to get more of those
little tourist bottles. Can’t go to Tucson this year to get more.
BTW - I paid $5. Shows where gold prices went.
Gold flakes aka gold leaf are vapours. Rub a few between the fingers
and they disappear. Dry them and they float in the air. Light will
pass through them.
Selling .20c worth of flakes for $10 is a cool rip-off!
I had some and tried to melt it. It just disappeared."
I melted the entire bottle full once, (less the bottle of course),
and got a very small bead. I suspect if you tried to melt only one
flake you would still get a bead, but one so small you might not be
able to see it without magnification.
Gold Foil is much much thicker than leaf. I use gold foil fused over
silver (keum boo), and roll out my own from a piece of 24K gold. I
make it about the thickness of aluminum foil and one handle it, and
cut it into the shapes needed for the Keum Boo.
Gold leaf on the other hand is very thin, and cannot be handled.
Alma
Jamie- I don’t know how it’s made today. I’m guessing some sort of
electro forming.
However I did have a great great uncle who was a gold leaf beater.
He was a recent German immigrant. My late father told about visiting
him in his workshop in NYC around WWI. He said that there were
several guys sitting around a table with books of layers of gold leaf
with tissue in between them. He had a large leather covered wood
mallet that he would endlessly beat the stacked gold with. Constantly
turning it in circles and rearranging the layers. He would switch
arms periodically when one tired.
Did this for 12 hour a day. Dad said that he had arms like Popeye.