Identifying gold
Why gold looks untouched after centuries.
Gold does not corrode or tarnish, so ancient gold often looks startlingly fresh. Suspicion of “too clean” should be balanced against this fact — a bright gold find can still be genuinely ancient.
Colour shifts with alloy: pure gold is deep yellow, silver makes it paler and greenish, copper makes it redder. Wear reveals a consistent colour throughout, not a plated skin, and burial sometimes leaves reddish iron staining in recesses rather than any true corrosion.
Weight is a strong clue — gold is very dense (about 19.3 g/cm³ pure). A gilt or gold-plated object feels far lighter than solid gold of the same size. Pure gold is also soft: crisp machine-hard edges on a supposedly high-carat piece deserve suspicion.
Fineness cannot be judged by eye. Record colour, weight, and dimensions, and leave carat to an assay — “gold, fineness untested” is a perfectly good catalogue line.