August 2, 2003
Iraqi loot: gold haul brass
Gold-colored bars seized by American troops in Iraq appear to be melted-down shell casings made mostly of copper, rather than gold, according to a report obtained today.From Reuters, via the NY Times. The actual contents of the bars likely were known pretty quickly -- any jeweler should have been able to tell right away.The United States military announced the discovery of truckloads of gold-colored bars in May. One haul was estimated to be worth as much as $500 million. Another was estimated at $100 million, though the driver of the truck said at the time the bars were actually copper.
Posted by David on August 2, 2003 1:29 PM
Some brass alloys look very much like some gold alloys. (But it's easy to measure the density of a bar of metal, and gold is very heavy - so while a jeweler might not be able to tell at a glance, you're right that it should have been easy to figure out almost immediately whether they were actually gold or not.)
Posted by: jaed on August 3, 2003 1:02 AM
You are quite right about the possibility of confusion by appearance in the case of alloy gold; nonetheless, if the ingots had been gold stolen from the central bank, they surely would have been .999 -- not to be confused with brass by appearance or weight!
And any jeweler, pawnbroker, or antique dealer would be equipped to do an acid test on the spot -- about as low-tech as it gets.
Posted by: David on August 3, 2003 10:02 AM
We have a really nice comstructed antique heavy chain with medal, marked 18k. But we doubt that they are brass through its color and look. Do you think a brass item can be fraudly marked 18k to fool people? Has anyone of you ever seen or heard something brass but marked like gold ? All comments are appreciated.
Pee Vee
Posted by: Pee Vee on March 15, 2004 2:40 PM
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