12/21/12 Report - Testing Silver and Gold & More

Written by the Treasureguide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.

I'm a little late today.  Was waiting to see if the world came to an end.  If it did, I missed it.

Anyhow, on with today's post.


Well, well, well.   I just learned something new a little while ago.  

You probably know how to use an acid test kit to test gold and silver.  I've covered that in this blog before.  There are also some other methods you can use to identify precious metals.  Some methods are more formal and precise than others.  For example, I can usually tell the difference between a silver dime and a clad simply by the sound when they are dropped on ceramic tile.

But what I just learned is that you can use neodymium magnets to help identify silver and gold.  Not only that, but you can get an idea of how pure the silver and gold is in some cases if you have different samples to compare.

I just stumbed across this ad for neodymium magnets.  The ad said that you could use the magnets to test for fake silver and gold coins.   And there was a video explaining how and why it worked.

Here is the link to the video.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/24ct-Scrap-Gold-Silver-Sovereign-Coin-Neodymium-Rare-Earth-Testing-Magnet-10mm-/300834561864?pt=UK_Coins_Bullion_Bars_SM&hash=item460b231f48

While this seems to generally work and looks like it could be a useful test, some say that it is not definitive and should be used with other tests, such as acid, to verify.   


Gold hit a four month low yesterday even though on the year it is still up around five percent.  Silver is down to $29 per ounze and change.  Unlike the more normal case, the dollar is falling too.  Usually gold goes up as the value of the dollar decreases.  The news on the policitical scene seems to be much of the cause.


I showed a chain yesterday that I thought might be a chain for a pocket watch.  I received an email from John who said it was definitely a watch chain.  Unfortunately I lost the email somehow as I started to read it, so if there is more detail in the body, I'd appreciate it if you could resend the email John.  Thanks much.


It is chilly out there this morning on the Treasure Coast.  The wind picked up last night and is coming from the north as a cold front moves through.  I saw white caps on the Intracoastal rolling in from the northeast.   I haven't been out to see the beach yet.  I don't suspect much of anything has happened yet.

I see that the most recent prediction from the surf web sites says that the surf will be up to around 4 - 6 foot seas tomorrow.  That usually isn't enough to improve conditions, and it won't be anything like Sandy where we got some real high tides, but it could do a little cutting and if all things come together just right, could bring a few cobs within range, but at this point, I would say that is a very long shot.  We'll have to wait and see.

The high surf is predicted to peak on Saturday.   Low tide is around 8:30 AM.   The low tides are getting a little lower now.  They had been relatively high for a real long time.   That in itself will produce some opportunities.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net