Habaki, What Percentage Gold?

[Nickupero]

Hi Guys, to start with happy New year, health and happiness to all you here and your loved ones!

 

I have this incredible looking 2 piece habaki made of solid gold... it is matched with a beautiful Koshirae and equally beautiful Kozori signed blade. The purpose of this listing is as the title describes, what percent gold would a very high grade habaki be? I would think 24k gold is too soft. It is made of 2 parts, inner is 18 grams silver and outer is intricately carved with Mei & Kao, heavy weighing in at 34 grams.

 

And if anyone wants to take a nab at the mei be my guest

 

[Baka Gaijin]

Hi Nick.,

 

An XRF tester may be the solution to the question of Karat.

 

There must be a friendly Gold Bullion Dealer somewhere in Montreal.............

[PNSSHOGUN]

Yes, good gold dealer should be able to tell you.

[nagamaki - Franco]

Hello,

 

Sorry to be a naysayer, but I think saying solid gold habaki here is a bit optimistic. 

 

 

Will leave it that.

Edited January 2, 2018 by nagamaki - Franco

[Ford Hallam]

The term solid gold is bandied about far too easily imo. By definition solid gold would suggest 24 ct. ie. pure gold. If there are any other alloying elements present, copper, silver or zinc, then the mass of metal isn't solid gold anymore.

 

Further, Japanese metalsmiths were expert at manipulating the surface of gold alloys to enrich then so as to create a finish that might appear to be a purer alloy than it might actually be. So judging an alloy's composition from colour alone may not be all that reliable.

 

The habaki is question could as easily be a 50% brass (1/3rd zinc)  and gold alloy or a gold and 20% silver alloy.

 

And Franco, a 22ct gold alloy contains 91.7% fine gold. 

[nagamaki - Franco]

 

And Franco, a 22ct gold alloy contains 91.7% fine gold. 

 

Ha, well, if not half asleep I might have double checked and noticed things not quite adding up before posting.

[Baka Gaijin]

There is of course the time honoured  Hatton Garden Refiners method involving a very large toothed file and various acids. 

 

That was a Joke..........

 

I'll take a crack at the signature: -  Mitsu Hito (Kao)

[Nickupero]

Forgive my lack of technical terms, when I suggested solid gold I meant all one piece and non gold foil (with copper underneath). Ford that makes sense solid gold referring to pure gold, so if there is a reasonable gold content then it can be referred to as simply "gold Habaki". My mother in-law would be a good person to start with, jeweler by trade.... now retired but 40+ years in the business. She has those acid testers but unfortunately no XRF tester, the idea of filing a small portion and pouring acid doesn't sit well with me, but she would be the right place to start. I am curious to find out, have been fortunate to see a good amount of jewellery and color/weight looks right in hand even though it may look off in the pictures, but Japanese metalsmiths certainly have one up... worth investigating. It is real heavy, and technically it isn't even a full habaki.

 

Thanks Malcom for the attempt, Mitsu yes but not sure about the Hito, will have to look further into it.

[Grey Doffin]

You need a graduated flask with some water in it.  Note the volume of the water and then submerge the habaki.  The difference between the volume with habaki and volume without will give you the volume of the habaki.  Now weigh the habaki and look up the weight of pure gold per volume.  This will give you the answer and no harm will have been done.

Grey

[Guido]

I can’t comment on the habaki in question, but might be able to explain how gold habaki are described/marketed in Japan.

 

There are basically two types:

 

1. Kinmuku 金無垢, i.e. solid gold. In a strict sense this means junkin 純金, 24 ct, but often 18 ct is used (at least I was told so).

 

2. Kinkise 金着; this is often called "gold plating", but actually means "gold application", usually in the form of gold foil. The correct term for gold plating is kinmekki 金めっき. The base material for kinkise-habaki is copper.

 

[Baka Gaijin]

Eureka!! Grey 

 

But not quite that easy in practice I suspect. 

 

Archimedes' technique first appeared in practical form in Vitruvius'  "De Architectura"

 

Gallileo had some input into the problem of hydrostatic balance quite a few years later.

 

Don't ya just love NMB!! 

[Brian]

I also consider solid gold to mean not plated or foiled, but gold all the way through. I would then expect something to be added, like solid 18k gold, or solid 22k gold.
But "solid gold" I would n't presume to mean 24k.
But all very educational, thanks for sharing.

[JohnTo]

Hi Nick,

I've just posted a new item (Gilt Tsuba) which I rushed through to show how I used Archimedes to determine the base metal of a gold plated tsuba.

 

Regards, John