GOLD TOOTH Acid Test/Purity Question ????????

hombre_de_plata_flaco

Bronze Member
Apr 24, 2011
1,115
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Georgia
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Teknetics Delta 4000
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!

;D 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.


dentalgold.jpg
 

I posted this double crown awhile back and sold it with some more scrap a couple of weeks ago. I don't remember exactly what what it brought, but the dealer said it was 15 kt. Made sense to me because I couldn't decide if it was 14 or 18 with my acid test. It seems like I got $222.00 for it, but there was a bunch of stuff and I'm not for sure.
 

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It looks like it passed all three tests. :dontknow: I get confused when I acid test my gold.
 

Dental Gold is primarily 16K or .667 fine. Years back I would from time to time purchase some dental gold. Was always paid for 16K when I sent it in. Rick :coffee2:
 

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