19th Century Gambling Wheel Treasure

I'm not really convinced either way at this point. There is no way that silverish wheel is 80% copper. Hahaha I wouldn't melt it anyhow, but I just want to get to the bottom of this now. I understood XRF to be extremely accurate. There is so much variation and the new test just doesn't match the characteristics of the metal, save for maybe the density.

 

sounds like a 3rd test would be in order .....

 

I wouldn't bother to get a third test. You're not looking for melt value. There's no proof that either test already performed is accurate anyway. I'm somewhat of the belief that the second test was somehow flawed. It is possible you got the wrong results.

 

A tv show about dredging up gold in water off Nome Alaska showed the "gold" being weighed. It looked like brass turning chips, light yellow. Anyone know if real or fake gold?

 

I mine gold elsewhere in Alaska. Yes, it looks like yellow "pancakes" from some places. Other places you find small coarse nuggets. Actually, to boot, I have worked and lived closely to the producers, cast, and crew of some of your Alaska TV shows. I can assure you the gold is real. I can also assure you the drama is not… Raw gold like that varies a lot in purity and usually is around 85% give or take 10% or so around here. It has silver and or copper with it. Sometimes there are traces of others.


After thinking on this a while and doing more research I am convinced something happened at least to the second test.

A few years back I thought to maybe have a new set of pins cast by someone that works in old brass furniture fittings. I did decide to leave the missing and replacement pins as it was found, but I had one of the pins tested, which I would consider to be white brass. It came back as 60% copper 15%zinc and 20%nickel with some traces. I cannot find that print out. That one was the place where I had the first gold positive test on the wheel too. The pin pretty much tested close to what I had expected to make it lighter in color.

Now, The wheel is much much lighter in color. In fact, it has no trace of yellow and I wouldn't even consider it near a brass. There is no way that is 80% copper. It would be more yellow than the pole. I believe there was contamination or a sample got confused.

However, I still treasure it as if it were gold either way. Really, there isn't another like it and I've yet to find a vertical roulette wheel as old as it. Just the tour de force in placement and engraving the numbers blows my mind. Why not just make a stamp for the 20 7's on the wheel and punch them into it? It really is an excellent example of a Bodoni typeface variant too.

All and all the number game is rigged too, as you might remember. There is still a great chance this was in one of Soapy's saloons he owned all over gold rush territory. Very few Yukon gambling artifacts are still around. I need to find a home for this one so that people can enjoy it and its history live on.

 

I wonder if some old time Kingpin (like Soapy Smith or Al Swearingen in Tombstone) melted down some raw gold ore and had it cast as a gambling wheel ? You know-the way Goldfinger melted and recast his bullion into a vintage Rolls Royce to hide his wealth from the 'Revenuers' in the James Bond Movie-could be a heck of a tale in this old beauty.I might start boning-up on some of the old gambling,saloon and bordello 'Legends of the Far North.