Liquid Gold Leaf

laurentyvan

I have an old half-full bottle of liquid gold leaf.
It has long since dried out leaving behind what seems to be the hardened gold residue..
Is anyone familiar with liquid gold leaf?
I found almost nothing in my searches.
The 2 oz bottle is about half full with a blue skin of some kind on top.
It would be a great boon to me if it was worth a few bucks, especially this time of year.

derryb

it's a brush on touch up paint for picture frames, etc. Not actual gold.

ricko

You could scrape it out and shape it into nugget form and surprise some people... Cheers, RickO

laurentyvan

I like that idea!

What still puzzles me is that modern gold leaf (in the thin sheets) is 14K gold.
Touch up gilt (or paint) is commonly called Treasure Gold and is not real.
This bottle is at half a century or more old. Why wouldn't it be the equivalent
of modern gold leaf, i.e. 14K?

ricko

Did you test it? i.e. metal detector, gold chemical test etc.? Easy to confirm either way... Cheers, RickO

MsMorrisine

gold melts at 1,948°F

paint will burn at a much lower temp.

try burning it outside (better not smoke up the house) and see if anything is left, which will likely be nothing.

laurentyvan

@MsMorrisine said:
gold melts at 1,948°F

paint will burn at a much lower temp.

try burning it outside (better not smoke up the house) and see if anything is left, which will likely be nothing.

I will let you know the results (if I decide to go that way). Now where did I put that propane torch...?

MsMorrisine

no need to get that hot.

mix it with paint thinner or something to get it very liquid then burn off the "paint" part. if there is real gold remaining, it will not have melted if it is burned is a very open container. Hopefully, having it very liquid in a big container will allow the paint to burn off more fully and not have the paint remnants clump up into a black mass, leaving you to sort through a black messy mass.

or you could just burn off a part of it all with some definite gold bits in it. if you see a gold bit disappear or melt into a mess, then it is most likely not gold.

ricko

Let us know... .hopefully with pictures - even a video..... Cheers, RickO

laurentyvan

Thanks for your sage advice. I'll wait until Monday when the wife goes to work-she doesn't like flame...

Baley

It's not gold. Don't hurt yourself.