Found a Gold Coin

[Zephik]

Its a double eagle twenty dollar gold coin. The first edition, not the second (check wiki). I took it to a guy who said he's never seen anything like it and that he couldn't tell if it was real or not. He said it was probably copper though. So...

How would I test it for copper? I could take it to a test lab or whatever, but I don't want to spend the gas money if its fake (too far away). Isn't there a way to tell if a coin is fake or not? Like maybe set up an electro whatever thinger. lol idk where that came from, I saw you could create rust with like a battery and water or something like that. idk.

I'm typing this as fast as I can btw, I'm heading out the door as a type. Anyways, I'll try to post some pictures, but if anyone knows anything about chemical reactions or whatnot, let me know. Thanks! ^_^

-Ze

[dgrmkrp]

Well, you could ask a chemistry teacher.. I think gold resists some acids, while copper doesn't.. I know for a fact that copper would be eaten by a very common electronic stuff: FeCl

[elbarto241]

found this little tip of info....
LINKY
one guy on there suggest dipping the coin in muriatic acid, if its gold it will not be harmed, if its copper it gets damaged. another guy suggest finding the density and shows you how to [ hope your good in math ].
hope that helps a bit. good luck, hope you got a jackpot there buddy

[Quakken]

If it is pure gold it will be malleable. Of course, you wouldn't want to bite it or do something like that if it is real. Conductivity is also a factor, if it is gold it would have lower ohms of resistance than copper (or close to it). You should be able to find ohm resistances for metals on the internets. I'm sure you'll find it out soon. Let us know!

[NightrainSrt4]

I second the density idea. If you can get your hands on a top loading scale and a graduated cylinder you can find its density really easy. And no risk of damaging the coin either way. So even if its fake you still have a cool looking coin.

Density won't tell you everything, but it should be enough to tell whether or not its more likely to be copper or gold.

[Greco101]

[Zephik]

If it is pure gold it will be malleable. Of course, you wouldn't want to bite it or do something like that if it is real. Conductivity is also a factor, if it is gold it would have lower ohms of resistance than copper (or close to it). You should be able to find ohm resistances for metals on the internets. I'm sure you'll find it out soon. Let us know!

The double eagle, and most us gold currency, isn't pure gold. I believe the double eagle contains something like 5 or 10 percent copper and silver or something like that.

That, and if it is a fake and if it is copper cored, it will be just as malleable as a pure gold coin.

Also, I don't want to cut it or bend it, especially if it turns out to be real. Seems the price tags on these are about $700usd.

I second the density idea. If you can get your hands on a top loading scale and a graduated cylinder you can find its density really easy. And no risk of damaging the coin either way. So even if its fake you still have a cool looking coin.

Density won't tell you everything, but it should be enough to tell whether or not its more likely to be copper or gold.

afraid I can't get my hands on a top loading scale. Wish I had one though.

found this little tip of info....
LINKY
one guy on there suggest dipping the coin in muriatic acid, if its gold it will not be harmed, if its copper it gets damaged. another guy suggest finding the density and shows you how to [ hope your good in math ].
hope that helps a bit. good luck, hope you got a jackpot there buddy

Sweet, I'll check that out. Not that good at math, but if I can figure out which chemicals react to materials but gold, that will be good. Its most likely gold plated if its fake, but theres a small chip around the edge, so thats probably exposing the core material.

Well, you could ask a chemistry teacher.. I think gold resists some acids, while copper doesn't.. I know for a fact that copper would be eaten by a very common electronic stuff: FeCl

lol wish I had one of those handy too... but thanks for the acid info.

Yea I know, I'm in the process of moving, so if theres a camera around here somewhere, idk. But hopefully I can find one.

...
What would happen chemically, if it were either gold or copper, if I were to put the coin in water (salty?) and tie the positive to one end and the negative to the other... or something like that... dangit, I wish I paid attention in my science class. ><

Does gold rust?? Maybe thats what I'm thinking. Think... the homemade process on how you make thermite. With the rusty nail in the water or something...

Man, talk about brain farts. Mines tooting away!

[dgrmkrp]

Gold is so nice because it doesn't rust or oxidate.. it is fairly stable. Copper on the other hand gets darker pretty fast.. sand a copper block to shiny heaven, then touch it and look as how your finger prints stay on the block forever, dark brown.. Of course, coins aren't made of pure copper, but alloys, so they don't do that so fast. But we have coppery coins and they do darken in time, maybe a month or so of hand contact.. so, that would be a crummy way of testing..

Go to a jeweler That helped me in the past.. they can visually tell apart most types of fakes and metals

[crenn]

If you have fairly accurate scales and something with a scale on a tube (or jar) measuring volume, you can work out the density of it which should give you an idea of what it is.

[Greco101]

Or just throw it on ebay and take what you can get :oP

You can always take it to your local coin shop but DONT sell it to them... more often than not, they will take advantage of people that don't know exactly what they have.