Once more you’re on the hunt for antique treasures. This time, you’re looking to add to your gold coin collection and you heard that a local antique auction had a $1 U.S. coin listed in their next auction.
You have completed your research and you know that, with the current price of gold at $950 per ounce, this 1865 one dollar gold coin, with a quality rating of about VF20, would retail for around $400 at your local coin dealer’s store. With the quality rating verified you have one last step to do prior to the auction.
Weigh it.
You’ve heard that sometimes, albeit rarely, a seller will attempt to cheat a person by drilling a tiny hole in the coin and hollowing it out, taking out part of the gold before carefully plugging the hole back up with a small amount of gold.
Taking out your electronic scale you carefully place the antique gold treasure onto it and see that it weighs 0.05376 ounces, or 5.376% of an ounce.
Your research shows that the coin should weigh 1.672 grams, so out comes your old Hewlett Packard 12C calculator and you take 28.35 grams (the number of grams in an ounce) and take 5.376% of it to arrive at 1.524 grams. What? Are they trying to cheat you?
Not at all.
Gold, silver and other precious metals are measured in troy ounces, not the standard, or avoirdupois ounce.
Troy ounces are heavier than avoirdupois ounces and contain 31.1 grams, not 28.35 grams.
Now when you take 5.376% of 31.1 your trusty calculator will show 1.672 and you may breath a sigh of relief with the knowledge that your antique gold $1 coin is indeed intact and in good condition. You’re ready to bid on it.
Troy Weights
One troy ounce equals 31.1 grams.
One troy ounce equals 20 pennyweights.
One troy ounce equals 480 grains.
One troy ounce equals 1.097 regular, or avoirdupois, ounces.
12 troy ounces equal 1 troy pound.
32.15 troy ounces equal one kilogram.
Keep these weight conversions in mind when you’re calculating your purchase price. Write them down in your notebook. Input them into your Blackberry.
If a seller tells you that an antique French 18 carat gold pocket watch chain weights 1.2 ounces. Ask. Make certain that they’re referring to troy ounces and not avoirdupois ounces.
Always remember: An ounce isn’t always an ounce.
Copyright 2009 Antique-Trails.com
