Before California Fractional Gold Coins, business districts, trading posts, and government entities accepted and gave out change in the form of dust, nuggets, bars and one other unique treasure; amalgam balls. The need for small change was so great because of the many towns popping up all over the west. A few assayers, including government assayers, jewelers, and mining companies struck small fractional gold coins and/or tokens in Quarter Dollar and Half Dollar denominations. Round, octogonal, rectangle and even square coins were produced. Here's Mike Locke's website whose logo consists of six of the Fractional Gold pieces: http://www.calgoldcoin.com/ Today, I'm not going into any further discussion about the California fractional gold pieces, but want to introduce you to the what and why of the amalgram gold balls whose production and use preceded the private strikings of the fractionals. One of the oldest means of separating gold dust from the surrounding detritus is to mix it with mercury, a discovery attributed to ancient Roman miners. This assimilates the gold: the pasty mass is washed to remove valueless concentrations and then the remaining material is placed within a tightly woven fabric or chamois. The mercury is squeezed out (leaving an outer surface pattern of the fabric). Since Mercury has a lower evaporation degree, the ball can now have the remaining mercury steamed off. One way prospectors did this was to use a potato. They'd scoop a hollow out of the center, place the ball within, rejoin the halves, and "bake" it for forty-five minutes in the campfire. This removed the remaining mercury, leaving a ball of nearly pure gold. The value of the amalgam ball was based on its weight. Here's a photo: http://www.reisbord.com/images/Amalgam ball web.gif Here's a photo of Gold Dust and Bars: http://www.pbase.com/image/47260203 And here's a photo of a Gold Nugget (courtesy of Coinarchives): http://www.coinarchives.com/w/lotviewer.php?LotID=564801&AucID=412&Lot=383 Here's some interesting info on Gold Nuggets: http://www.akmining.com/mine/nuggets.htm Thought you'd like to know. Was it interesting? Clinker - http://clinker.bravehost.com/funpage.html
Hardly And it is not necessary to bake the potato either, it will absorb the mercury quite nicely just by leaving it alone overnight. You can also use an apple for the same purpose.
To rzage: No one ate those potatoes and lived to tell about it! :mouth: And thanks for your positive comment and the nomination... Clinker
Gdjmsp Overnight vs 45 minutes... Potatoes cheaper than apples... But thanks for mentioning... And Don't breathe the Fumes! Clinker
