hombre_de_plata_flaco
Bronze Member
OK, so I have this gold tooth.
I got it the other day when I visited a nursing home and brought a pair of pliers along to do a little "treasure hunting". The longer the oxygen mask is removed, the less of a fight they can put up, but be careful when you first pull off the O2 because those old fogies can still put up quite a struggle!
Just kidding.
When I first got it, it still had chunks of tooth and some silver colored filling inside it. I picked all the human remains out with an Exacto knife (scalpel) and file, then I dissolved all the non-gold filling material by soaking it overnight in the silver testing acid that came with my kit. The silver-ish metal turned to a grey mush and was easily removed after that with a little scraping and rinse.
Anyway, I want to sell this tooth, but I need to get some input as to what Karat purity I should use in order to determine the asking price. I am going to lump it in with some other scrap I am selling on eBay.
I used the scratch/acid test, and I thought I would post the pics of the results here just to get your opinions.
I made three marks on the testing stone. From left to right 14K, 18K, and 22K.
The 22K mark melted only slightly and left a weird aquamarine tint.
The 18K mark dissolved even less and also left a greenish tint, though not as pronounced as the 22K.
The 14K mark did not dissolve at all, and looks just like any other piece of 14K I have scratch tested.
Now, I have been reading that most dental gold is around 16K, but I don't have any 16K acid to test with. Should I just play it safe and calculate the scrap value based on the 14K weight? The difference is only a few bucks so that is what I am leaning toward doing at the moment.
I got it the other day when I visited a nursing home and brought a pair of pliers along to do a little "treasure hunting". The longer the oxygen mask is removed, the less of a fight they can put up, but be careful when you first pull off the O2 because those old fogies can still put up quite a struggle!
Just kidding.When I first got it, it still had chunks of tooth and some silver colored filling inside it. I picked all the human remains out with an Exacto knife (scalpel) and file, then I dissolved all the non-gold filling material by soaking it overnight in the silver testing acid that came with my kit. The silver-ish metal turned to a grey mush and was easily removed after that with a little scraping and rinse.
Anyway, I want to sell this tooth, but I need to get some input as to what Karat purity I should use in order to determine the asking price. I am going to lump it in with some other scrap I am selling on eBay.
I used the scratch/acid test, and I thought I would post the pics of the results here just to get your opinions.
I made three marks on the testing stone. From left to right 14K, 18K, and 22K.
The 22K mark melted only slightly and left a weird aquamarine tint.
The 18K mark dissolved even less and also left a greenish tint, though not as pronounced as the 22K.
The 14K mark did not dissolve at all, and looks just like any other piece of 14K I have scratch tested.
Now, I have been reading that most dental gold is around 16K, but I don't have any 16K acid to test with. Should I just play it safe and calculate the scrap value based on the 14K weight? The difference is only a few bucks so that is what I am leaning toward doing at the moment.
I get confused when I acid test my gold.
