Real of fake specimen?

[ptdub]

 

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[Clay Diggins]

Fake specimen, real gold.

Probably made by one of our members here. Bejay does a nice job of making foolers gold.

Heavy Pans

 

[ptdub]

How do I tell? They give a specific mine location it apparently comes from.

 

[Skunked68w]

How is the gold free milling with all that pyrite around it? You would think it would be locked up in the sulfides.

 

[Bejay]

Fake specimen, real gold.

Probably made by one of our members here. Bejay does a nice job of making foolers gold.

Heavy Pans

I have made many souvenir 24 k gold rocks and miners have purchased them to illustrate what they strive to find. I use 24k gold and can even impregnate the rock with lead. Experienced miners can not tell my rocks from the real thing. One miner used to buy them by the dozen. He gave them away to people when they asked what he did for a living. Yep......I have fooled many a miner for a day or two when I whip one out of my watch pocket. Especially when I am out metal detecting and someone stumbles onto me and asks how I am doing. I can even impregnate the rock with lead and have the gold overlay the lead. Question always is: "How do I make my Rocks?" That is not open for discussion.

I have lot of stories I could share. Many!

Bejay

 

[ptdub]

If they are being made by member Bejay and Bejay sells them to a Rock shop in the Tucson, AZ area it should be known said Rock shop in Tucson, AZ is passing them off and selling them as the real thing to tourist and prospectors alike. Never a very good thing for the shop to be doing. I'd also be pissed if I was making them and selling them to a shop who is then passing them off as real. This is a fraud scam if the shop is knowingly doing so and illegal.

Fake specimen, real gold.

Probably made by one of our members here. Bejay does a nice job of making foolers gold.

Heavy Pans

 

[Bejay]

They know it is man made gold rocks and sell them as such. So if a painter paints a picture of a landscape; sells the painting to a shop who in return sells the painting of the landscape; it is not selling the landscape but merely a picture. The man made examples containing real gold are examples of what drives those who seek out gold. Interesting how people can assume fraud when they speculate people are doing things to defraud others. Take note that miners even bought them to use as examples of what they look for. I have given many away to friends and family to merely show what miners attempt to find.

 

[ptdub]

Bejay no need to be defensive here. I merely state fact of being sold these rocks from a shop in Tucson, AZ who advertises them as authentic gold ore and going as far as saying they come from a specific old mine. Who even knows if they are ones you made or not. Even if they are ones you made, you are not the one passing them off as something they are not. What the shop is doing is fraudulent unless the shop doesn't know they are man made and really think they are real.

 

[Bejay]

Mine were sold to a retail shop in Wickenburg Az prior to the Gold Mining Days Celebration....they bought 10. The Weaver Mining District Office in Congress Az bought 5. All others were sold to miners....who were the major purchasers. As seen in the pic heading this thread; others attempt to make them as well....and some really don't do a very good job at it. I know of a few who made them using "gold leaf" that was really not gold...but actually used by crafters for decoration. There are a number of ways to create the rocks....and no doubt fraud can be undertaken: as your example suggests. The main identifying aspect is the cost of such a rock. I sold mine for $10 a rock or a dozen for $100. If the rocks were real specimens they would be worth well over $100 each. So my observation would be: If you paid a lot of money for a fake rock you can definitely assume someone is committing fraud.....but that is a question I can not answer to. I mistook your reply to infer that I sold rocks to a shop in Tucson.....that is not the case; but it would not hurt to contact the retail shop and raise the question.

Bejay