mineral tester

[goldinmypan]

Saw an article testing a hand held x-ray fluorescence analyzer in Rock & Gem mag. 9/10. Not only gives the % of gold, silver but also the other trace minerals in the sample. Analyses of gold alloys agree with stated karat ratings ie. 75% for 18k, 58.3% fro 14k. It can even read thru thin plating. The big caveat...it cost $42k. But you can rent one for $500/day. Think I'm going to have to wait a bit for prices to come down.

[cyberdan]

Saw an article testing a hand held x-ray fluorescence analyzer in Rock & Gem mag. 9/10.

Some big gold refineries use them. But I have heard that they can be calibrated to read low. My $200 GT3000 gives very good results. It has only been tricked once. A heavy bracelet kept reading 14K then junk. I took it to a "buy your gold" place who had a hard time determining K also but offered me over $100 I should have taken it cause I sent only that piece to my refinery and got a ckeck for about $5 it was gold filled.