Is this gold?

**Goldhunter** · 07-09-2012, 01:18 AM

I found this on the beach yesterday, gave a good signal. To me it looks like it's possibly a piece of gold embedded in rock. Any thoghts guys? I tried white vinegar on it as suggested from a facebook detecting forum. It pased that test by not changing colour. Anyway here it is...

**stewart73** · 07-09-2012, 01:51 AM

Intriguing....do you have access to an acid gold test kit? To find a metal that color on a salt water beach with absolutely no sign of corrosion certainly does suggest gold.

**shep** · 07-09-2012, 07:09 AM

Looks like it to me mate but best to get it checked at a jewellers

**geoff** · 07-09-2012, 07:10 AM

Looks like it,fascinating find!

**Steve_T** · 07-09-2012, 07:47 AM

Look's the part ! how unusual great talking piece if it turns out to be a gold band.

**Davidhod** · 07-09-2012, 11:57 AM

I hope it is, speculation on the how and why would be really interesting.

**stewart73** · 07-09-2012, 12:25 PM

How big is that rock? Hard to get any kind of scale from that picture.

**omegamike** · 07-09-2012, 12:29 PM

Interesting.... Any chance of two or three photos at different angles please?

**Goldhunter** · 07-09-2012, 01:21 PM

Here is a pic with ruler for scale, the metal is not magnetic and approx 3cm long, only a small bit is showing and it has rock all around it. It looks nail shaped as opposed to ring shape, but looks gold to me. Will take it to a local shop for testing soon hopefully.

**mal** · 07-09-2012, 01:43 PM

Nice going Ray,

It looks like a wedding band that has a concretion formed around it with bits of stone and sand with mud forms a semi-solid material due to dielectric process. It does not bond to the item but around it. I have found many bits on the beach around coins and other items but never a ring.

Soak in fresh water for a week or so and then gently tap away the concretion and I think you will find a ring in it. The ring will be probably stretched a bit in diameter as the concretion swells as it grows.

**Goldhunter** · 07-09-2012, 02:08 PM

Mal, I think you may be on the money there, it does appear to be a type of concretion. I think its the gold edge of something squashed. I will try what you say, and will post a pic of whatever it is hidden from view as and when I free it

Thanks for your replies everyone.

**Randy Dee** · 07-09-2012, 02:31 PM

It may even be a gold coin seeing the diameter is almost 3cm.
At 3cm it seems a bit too large for a ring, but you never know untill it is cracked open.

Randy Dee

**ARGONAUTE** · 07-09-2012, 04:14 PM

to me it looks like a porphyritic Cu skarn, where Cu-Au deposits do form, but it also like it could be a concreted cement job piece of metal.

USGS-PorphyryCu.jpg

Porphyritic materials
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porphyry_%28geology%29

Skarns - broad range and igneous
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skarn

the metal does look adjacent to chlorite

do you find breccias in the surrounding area?
limestone-breccia-380.jpg
image052.jpg

**seanmagee1** · 07-09-2012, 06:17 PM

dont listen to mals advice about soaking just bang it with a hammer and get it out! i want to see what it is !!!

**Davidhod** · 07-09-2012, 06:21 PM

[QUOTE=ARGONAUTE;210144]to me it looks like a porphyritic Cu skarn, where Cu-Au deposits do form, but it also like it could be a concreted cement job piece of metal.

Possible, but in the UK probably only possible in Cornwall. Goldhunters lump has more rounded beach like grains with soft cement, most of whatever is holding it together has been worn away. Your diagram shows very angular grains with a vein like (quartz?) cement.

**dave9** · 07-09-2012, 07:14 PM

With all the sea defence's that have been done since the 1950s on the Lincolnshire coast,i suppose it is more than possible that someone may have lost a wedding band in wet concrete.That's my thought on a possible reason because it certainly look's like gold.Well found

**ARGONAUTE** · 07-09-2012, 07:42 PM

[QUOTE=Davidhod;210156]

Originally Posted by ARGONAUTE

to me it looks like a porphyritic Cu skarn, where Cu-Au deposits do form, but it also like it could be a concreted cement job piece of metal.

Possible, but in the UK probably only possible in Cornwall. Goldhunters lump has more rounded beach like grains with soft cement, most of whatever is holding it together has been worn away. Your diagram shows very angular grains with a vein like (quartz?) cement.

Don't let that fool you - breccias can be diverse as are skarns, and I hunt those areas. Material like goldhunters would fit right into that geology. Then again without looking at it in the hand, I could also say its a blob of cement. But that would also be unusual.