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Gold! or not Gold! Interesting box
Posted: Sun May 07, 2006 4:46 pm
by garyh3
Hi Another interesting item left to me. It says K 24 but thats all the marks on it. Looks Asian.!!!
Maybe the inlay would be gold??
Any information appreciated.
Best wishes
Garyh3
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Posted: Sun May 07, 2006 6:06 pm
by georgiansilver
What a lovely box and yes the overlay will be gold but it may be worthwhile getting the body tested at a jewellers or if you have a friend with a testing kit........ Best wishes, Mike.
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Posted: Mon May 08, 2006 6:40 am
by garyh3
Thanks georgiansilver I will get it tested.
The box is heavy but not 24k heavy. Any idea as to when it was made 1900's maybe or later?
The inlay is very fine and goes all around the box
best wishes
Garyh3
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box
Posted: Tue Jul 11, 2006 3:02 pm
by milly molly
The box looks to be Japanese Damascene. Usually the inlay is gold and will be marked with a karat mark. It looks as though this would be worth testing the body of the box, though. Good luck!
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Posted: Sun Jul 23, 2006 11:58 am
by SilverSurfer
Nice piece! I doubt it is solid gold, and believe the 24kt refers only to the gold overlay/inlay. My best guess is the the exterior metal on the box is shakudo, a typically Japanese alloy of about 96% copper and 4% gold. Properly patinated, this alloy shows a stong black color, ranging from a deep purple black (preferred) to a greenish dark gray when the gold content is low, it was not well patinated, or the original patination has deteriorated.
SS
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