As most people know, there is a lot of gold in Scotland. Finding it? thats the hard part.

Gold has always been the stuff of legend and Gold’s incorruptibility and beauty are often associated with purity and the eternal.

It is mostly for this reason, and the intrinsic value it holds, that has made gold the first choice for rings of importance for thousands of years.

Peter, our resident authority on such matters, was asked a number of years back, to create a pair of solid gold wedding bands from gold panned by the bride and groom to be (with a little assistance from Peter).

Needless to say that without some help, their engagement would have likely been a long one.

In the images below you can see the whole process from start to finish. The gold used was not refined in any way and was possible only because of the very high purity of Scottish gold. The unrefined gold was able to be used without cracking. (something that would most likely happen if unrefined gold was used from elsewhere).

The resulting rings were hallmarked at 22k (91.67% gold). Although the actual gold content was likely slightly higher.

Gold in the pan after a hard days work.

The total recovered from several trips.

Melting the gold.

The resulting gold ‘Button’.

Hammering ready for the rolling mill.

Annealing ready for rolling.

Drawing the wire in a draw plate.

Marking out the required size.

Setting out on a mandrel.

Cutting the gold wire to size.

Soldering the join.

After soldering.

Filing and refining the surface.

Polishing.

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Although we are a Charitable Organisation and not a business per se, we do, at times, have a surplus of equipment, rocks & minerals and a variety of other items that we will list here and make available to the public.