found gold ? at beach

[digum smacks]

i posted this in beach section.found gold nugget at beach in waist deep water.any experts opinions?weight 5 grams acid test came in at just under 18kt

[TNBob]

Way to go buddy!! I have found quite a few gold nuggets in the placer regions of AZ, NC, GA, California and Alaska but never on the beach? What beach did you find it? It looks natural and may contain a high amount of silver in it as was common in some placer regions. I found one in AZ that is only 9Kt gold and very silvery in color. I started prospecting inthe last century.
TNBob

[Steve in Cali.]

Nice!

Soak that in a 50/50 nitric acid-water solution for a few minutes and the gunk will come off. Be careful with the acid though and neutralize everything with baking soda when you're done.

Gold nuggets were commonly used as money in the mid to late 19th century so they were lost in all kinds of weird place...including beaches.

Congrats. Great find.

[digum smacks]

first tnbob the are no nuggets found "naturaly"in florida that im aware of.if there are, not over here in southwest fl.put 18kt lasted for a couple of minutes so close to 18kt.an escudo would be 22kt so thats out.the later would be more real.for trade money

[TNBob]

Digum: Obviously there are not naturally occuring nuggets in Florida, they were brought in by Indians or early settlers. It is cool that you found one on the beach in the water though, as they are probably very rare to find in your part of Florida unless they may be associated with a shipwreck. Nitric Acid is used to burn off mercury when processing placer gold with mercury attached. That would be considered a low content gold nugget so it may contain a good quanity of silver and copper depending on the alloy and color. Still a great find! Bob

[davidtn]

first tnbob the are no nuggets found "naturaly"in florida that im aware of.if there are, not over here in southwest fl.put 18kt lasted for a couple of minutes so close to 18kt.an escudo would be 22kt so thats out.the later would be more real.for trade money

Well that was a rude response to TNBob.

[calan]

if you found that in florida - its most likely dental gold from a cremation - buried at sea and washed up from a storm-

[divewrecks]

What? You gotta be kidding....

Stan

[DanB]

Come to think about it, it does look like a tooth. the first photo.....is very evident,,,,,,looking towards top left looks like the root end and the lower half looks like the crown, while one side is flat......got just hot enough to retain some shape while settling down on its self. I agree, it looks like a cremated tooth.

db

[elistepp]