Need gold nugget experts, is this one real?

[Spartcom5]

Interested in buying this antique pin but I have been burned once before with gold and quartz. To me it looks good but I need to be sure. Hopefully some of yall can help!

 

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[IMAUDIGGER]

What makes you think it’s antique?

 

[trdking]

antique = very crudely assembled? Is it gold? Have you acid tested it?
Theoretically all gold is as old as the earth and antique

 

[Spartcom5]

What I am mainly looking for is if it is a natural un altered nugget. It is indeed gold and it comes with an antique stickpin box from the late 1800s.

 

[IMAUDIGGER]

Without having it in my hands, I couldn’t say for sure, but it appears to be a piece of gold embedded quartz.
It’s not an especially attractive nugget, which makes me think it’s probably real.

 

[XtreasureX]

I agree with Digger. It's real, and not very attractive. To "make" a nugget and put quartz chips in it would be very expensive.
What are the markings on the back of the pin?

 

[Spartcom5]

No Mark's on the stick itself but it is 14k gold. Is there anyway to estimate a weight on the gold? Probably not but it is quite a hefty piece for its size!

 

[tamrock]

Nice piece. Unlike the other comments, I find visible native gold within a matrix very attractive.

 

[russau]

Take it to a jewlery EXPERT or a Geologist to make this determination . The nugget is probly real but the assembly of it and the pin "could be fake" !!!! fake nuggets have been very common this on ebay and such and it would be hard for a novice to make a I.D. diffecult at best. Goldbay (Dave) has some pictures on what to lookout for. Might be a good idea to look there for pointer's ! making "homead gold nuggets or jewelry to be made old is a real art form and EVERYTHING expensive has been made to look real from cars ,art ,furniture ETC. Good luck !

 

[IMAUDIGGER]

To myself...


Let me clarify what I said because it came off rude (it was early)..if I found that nugget, I’d cherish it and dream over it. All gold is good gold!

But as far as specimens or nuggets go, it’s not on the exceptional end of the scale. Probably something someone found and was proud of as their trophy piece. I highly doubt someone would use that much gold and take that much time to create a piece like that unless it was outstanding and would bring a lot more money than just the gold content. I guess that was my point.

As far as figuring the weight of gold...you have to do a specific gravity test where it is weighed in air, then in water.
An assumed specific gravity for the quartz will be used. You will find that the quartz doesn’t account for very much of the weight even though it looks like it should. It is probably worth it’s total weight at gold prices. If I was buying, I’d start out offering 80% spot price of the total weight.

https://www.gold-prospecting-wa.com/gold-in-quartz.html

What’s the rest of the pin look like?

 

[Reed Lukens]

Well... yes, it looks altered a bit. Looks like some gold was added possibly in a couple spots just going by color differences. Saying 14k is just someone trying to sell it with no knowledge of actual nugget purity, but... if it truly is only 14k, then that number alone is telling you that it's fake. That's some nasty looking quartz, I would pass, especially if they're asking for more than $150. With the top of the pin broken off from the nugget, that takes away a lot of value being that it needs to be repaired. Look at the 2 in the picture below so you can see the hasp that should be on the pin.
http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/members/51084-albums2895-picture729561.html

 

[Guardrailnickel]

Did you try taking your metal detector to see where it registers?

 

[brianc053]

Hey Spartcom5, I hope this information helps you a little: I found this tie clip at an estate sale (and yes, the price was $2.00). I tested the gold with acid and it came up as high purity (22K). So I took it to a jeweler here in town to get his perspective. What he said was that in the early part of the 1900's it was 'trendy' to create these sorts of jewelry items with pure gold by "dropping" the gold in water to form "simulated nuggets".
He was NOT saying that this was the case with my tie clip; he said it could just as easily be a real nugget - he'd never be certain.
Anyway, I hope it helps to know what my jeweler said.

Good luck!

 

[leadnugget]

the different Color/ shades on it are kind of off, but that could be the picture?
the front has the right Color and then there is that 14k looking rounded blob on the side
that looks off.
also the rounding on the 3rd pic is odd for the back to be so rough.
almost looks like it was melted.
i might buy it at melt value but not a premium.

the website goldbay has a good write up with pictures of what to look for with fakes.
you will need a good loop.

 

[placertogo]

Hey Spartcom5, I hope this information helps you a little: I found this tie clip at an estate sale (and yes, the price was $2.00). I tested the gold with acid and it came up as high purity (22K). So I took it to a jeweler here in town to get his perspective. What he said was that in the early part of the 1900's it was 'trendy' to create these sorts of jewelry items with pure gold by "dropping" the gold in water to form "simulated nuggets".
He was NOT saying that this was the case with my tie clip; he said it could just as easily be a real nugget - he'd never be certain.
Anyway, I hope it helps to know what my jeweler said.

Good luck!
View attachment 1813573

At close to $1,500 per troy ounce, even a “fake” nugget is valuable as long as the gold content is present. A refiner is going to crush it, remove the quartz, cupel, and refine it anyway. A real natural nugget is typically worth 10% to 25% over the gold value in the nugget.