Removing old solder from a gold coin used in jewlery

Jimreplogle

Does anyone know someone who can remove solder from a gold coin that was jewlry?

seanq

I took a small gold coin with solder to a local jeweler and asked this exact question. It depends largely on what type of solder was used. In my case the solder was gold-based, so anything hot enough to melt the material would also damage the coin. Silver solder might be removable, but it is not something I would attempt on my own.

Sean Reynolds

lcoopie

A jeweler.

Sapyx

Jeweller's solder is different from electronics solder - it's made with a high silver and/or gold content, and is deliberately designed to blend into the coin's surface at an atomic level. If done properly, a soldered coin is now one single piece of metal and "removing it" is as impossible as "removing" the 10% copper from a double eagle - sure, metallurgically, you can do it, but you have to melt and destroy the entire item to do so.

Soldered coins can be "repaired", but this usually involves some form of tooling - re-carving the lost details that used to be present underneath the solder. This is generally considered a form of "doctoring" and is frowned upon by collectors, which is why in turn soldered coins generally are frowned upon by collectors.

TLDR: "No, solder can't be removed" is the standard assumption.

thebeav

This. ^^^^^^^^^

rte592

A picture might help, but it's probably something for a jeweler.
If the solder is silver in color, you might have to shot but it will still take some centeralized heat.
Either way it's already altered and that doesn't back up well.