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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;heuvy31, post: 1815314, member: 42173&quot;]This is the info I was able to find on <a href="http://taxfreegold.co.uk/redspotsongoldcoins.html" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://taxfreegold.co.uk/redspotsongoldcoins.html" rel="nofollow">http://taxfreegold.co.uk/redspotsongoldcoins.html</a> </p><p><br /></p><p>Red spot can occur on almost any gold coin, it certainly happens on 22 carat gold coins. We have never seen it on .999(9) fine gold coins, and presume it is virtually impossible for it to occur on fine gold.</p><p>From our knowledge of metallurgy, we can tell you that when gold is alloyed, usually with copper or copper and silver, the alloying is obviously done in the molten state, and then has to cool. During cooling, crystalisation occurs, the crystal forming around &quot;seeds&quot; which are molecules of the elemental metals. There is a slight tendency for the elements with the highest melting point to start to crystalise first, and this can lead to small localised areas with slightly higher or lower concentrations of the constituent elements. In ternary alloys (three elements) three pairs of binary (two elements) alloys can also form. These areas of variable alloy are usually of microscopic proportion, but can sometimes be large enough to be visually discernable.</p><p>Copper oxidises and forms other salts fairly readily whereas gold is almost completely inert, and silver lies in between, although it is fairly unreactive. This means that if some parts of the alloy are copper rich, and are exposed on the surface of the coin, then it is possible for these parts to exhibit toning or tarnishing. The red spots are areas with a higher copper content, and as copper is a red coloured metal, this shows itself in an area which is less yellow and more red than the rest of the coin. If this area subsequently tarnishes, it would almost certainly go towards a deeper red or brown colour. Whenever we have seen red spot, it has always been an area about the size of a pinhead, sometimes with more than one spot on a coin.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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