A Teaspoon of Gold for Four Dollars

The other day I was at a second hand shop when I found a frame that I liked. It was $2 and I was happy to pay that amount for something I liked. It had some picture drawn on the glass and had gold behind the picture making the black image on the glass stand out.

It wasn't until a few minutes later, I realized that the gold behind it wasn't foil, it was gold leaf. I wondered how much gold is really in a few sheets of gold leaf. I know my mother used to make crafts all the time using gold leaf and that it used to be popular. Recently, I have only heard one person talk of using it and it was on a bedroom set. Not for crafting as used to be so common.

I was sorting through some frames looking for frames for the wedding and I found a second picture done in the same way with gold leaf. I thought if I keep looking for pictures at the second hand stores with gold leaf on it, how many would I need to get to make an ounce of gold. I am sure it would be cheaper than many other ways I could get gold.

I went to a few sites that describe the types of gold leaf and due to the age of the projects and luster of the gold, I am guessing it is a good quality. I compressed it quite a bit and found that if it was squished or melted it would probably be 1/2 tsp of gold. I thought I would keep my eyes open for more projects like that from now on and just continue to collect it and when I have enough, I will call my friend that is a gold jeweler and he promised to show me how to refine it.

I have been collecting old gold and broken gold products for years as I find them and put them in a bag to be refined. I also bought some old gold dental work from a second hand store which has large amounts of gold as it was a bridge with several fake teeth on the front. I think I may actually have enough gold now to have him show me how to refine it.

He said you need beakers and hydrochloric acid and a few other things. I am eager to learn. I think I will make them into standard sized coins with a hole so I can wear them on a chain if it ever came to having to leave and carry it. That is another story in itself but it has been something I have thought about.

I used a Spackle spatula to scrape off the gold from the glass and put it into a jar. I figured it was easier to wipe out the jar and get all the gold out than it would be in a baggie so that is what I used.

The first one I did came off quickly and easily and was stuck to a paper on the back which was easy to rub together and remove the gold. The second one was spray glued to the glass which made it harder to remove and left the gold a bit dirty. That really shouldn't matter if I am refining it anyway but it made it harder to remove and gave it a bit more weight that really wouldn't be there with just the leaf.

I don't think it is something that will make me rich as a booklet of leaf is about $50 and that is 25 - 3 inch square sheets. However, it depends on the quality of the sheet and if I am buying the frame anyway, the gold is an added bonus. It is similar to buying silver plate silverware. The silver you would melt off of it is probably worth more than the $.25 cents spent on the piece but all of them added up could make for some money. It depends on if you have the time to do the work involved.

Either way, I thought I would share the information. I will eventually probably blog about the gold refining. Should be interesting.