How to tell if gold is real

"Gold, Gold, Fool am I." Those words from "Paint Your Wagon" sum up how many feel about the yellow metal, and identifying it can be trickier than you think, especially if you are out in the field panning or prospecting. Not knowing how to identify gold is where

the "fool" part can come in. All that glitters is not gold, in fact most gold does not "glitter" at all.

Gold is a bright metal that is bright but not shiny, nor does it reflect light like a mirror, as fool's gold can. It has a warm glow that is unmistakable, and will stay glowing even when direct light is removed from it. (No, silly, it can't glow in a pitch black darkened room. Just shadow it with your hand. Now do that with iron pyrite)

If you wear a ring that is made of gold, you have a very good example of how gold glows. Even when buffed to its highest shine, gold does not shine like a flat surface does, as its' surface has a "bubbly" appearance under magnification that can reflect light in many directions. If you find "glittery" gold, KEEP IT! It is gold's crystalline form, rare, and very valuable as a collectors item, and can sometimes be best identified under magnification. After this simple explanation, you will find a more detailed explanation with references from Lapis International 5th book on gold.

Color is also a good indicator of gold. However, there are many variations on the color gold can be identified with. Most of it is not in its' pure form and is combined with copper more than all other metals. Iron, silver, sulphur, tellurium, lead, and several lesser minerals in varying amounts can be found with gold. In its' purest form, it is a warm buttery yellow color. Copper turns it orangish to burgundy brownish, silver turns it pale yellowish-green, iron-purple to blue, tellurium-silverish grey, lead-blackish. Many of these minerals can be combined with the gold together, producing any variation of the above colors. And this is only the simplest forms it can be found in! Can you say "calaverite"?

Then, there is malleability. This one is easier. Gold is a soft metal, easily flattened and formed into shapes and figures. It has rounded, soft edges. If your sample has square edges and is brittle, it is probably not gold. I say "probably" because gold can be put into the pores of iron pyrite under hot water solution conditions. The super heated water, with gold particles dissolved in it, can place the gold into the pyrite pores where it solidifies. And you thought we were only talking about magma! Now, you ask why we CARE

about iron pyrite. Well, iron pyrite is known as "fools gold". It is heavy with iron, (not as heavy as the real thing, though) shiny and metallic in appearance, as well as silverish to yellowish in color. And, it is abundant. You want it to be gold SO much, you can convince yourself that it is. And while it may carry gold with it, it isn't what the placer miner is looking for. We leave that for the hard rockers who are into milling the very nasty sulphides out of it.

So, are we confused enough yet? Alrighty then! Let's press on!

Last, but certainly NOT least, is weight. Gold is HEAVY. It is VERY HEAVY. Pick any rock of equal size to the piece you are curious about and the gold will be much heavier. Gold has a specific gravity of 19.1 to 19.3. ( I can find it published in either number in half of the gold books I own). Specific gravity is the water weight relationship of everything to water. Specific gravity is why placer mining and water separation works so well. The gold is 19 times heavier than water. The only thing that would be heavier is platinum. Oh, keep that, too, if you find it. By comparison, iron's specific gravity is around 11, and lead 13.

What is gold? In its purest form, it is a soft, noble, malleable metal, yellow in color with resistance to corrosion or oxidation and does not rust or tarnish under normal conditions. Its' English name probably comes from the Old English word meaning yellow, and its chemical symbol AU from the Latin term for gold, Aurum. In its uncombined form it has one stable isotope with an atomic mass of 197 in its nucleus and 118 neutrons and 79 protons.

Gold forms alloys with numerous other metals, most commonly the ones nearest to it on the periodic table. It combines most readily with copper. Viktor Goldschmidt classified gold as a "chalcophile" meaning that gold has an affinity for sulfur. However, there are no known combinations of gold and sulfur. However, there are several combinations of gold with elements that are related to sulfur, namely tellurium and selenium. Another alloy of gold is electrum, a combination of gold and silver usually 25%, but the silver content can be as much as 50%, and used extensively in the ancient world for coinage, although not necessarily from a natural state ref. extra Lapis English No 5 "GOLD The Noble Mineral" by Lapis International, LLC;

This book from Lapis International is a terrific scientific look at gold, put into layman's terms Hooked On Gold highly recommends it.

These sample rocks are pretty good examples of what you might find in the field. Based on the information on the page, which rock would be the "Real Deal", and which one is for the "Fool"?

Identifying gold in the field, or anywhere else, should include several indicators for the serious or weekend prospector. Color, brightness or shine, shape of pieces, and weight. Remember that gold is YELLOW and variants of yellow, soft and rounded, (NOT cubical and brittle) bright without being shiny, and HEAVY. So, now, what do you have in your hand?

For more examples of gold visit For the Love of Gold Photo album

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