So my wife’s friend took our 寶寶手冊 baby hospital book to Zinan temple to get a free ‘gold’ coin. They all think it is real gold but given it’s size and weight there is no way in my mind that this is real gold. Probably gold plated. Does anyone know what’s up?
No way it’s gold. The color isn’t even right. Looks more like brass to me.
Most likely it’s made of die cast zinc plated with brass to look Gold".
Test it with a magnet first.
You can’t judge color from a photo accurately. Most smartphone lenses don’t accurately capture the color exactly as our eyes perceive things firsthand.
You also don’t know the weight of the coin. It could be real. But it could also be extremely thin. I’m guessing the thickness of the coin is less than 1 mm. If the OP could measure the thickness or take the coin out of the protective plastic case, it would be possible to get a better idea of the coin.
No way it’s real gold. Otherwise anyone with a maternity book could just get one from a temple. They have money, but not THAT much money. Gifts like these are symbolic anyways.
Gold is also really heavy, a 1mm disc of gold of that size will weight about 10 or so grams. That’s at least 1000 dollars worth right there. I had a 1 gram bullion of platinum one time. It is about 10mm x 5mm in size and .8mm thick. Not very big at all. Platinum has similar density to gold.
Oh and by the way there are fake gold bullions from China where they take a piece of tungsten carbide (which is quite heavy) and plate it with gold. They seal it in those assay pouch so nobody looks. But the hardness is completely different. Tungsten carbide is nearly as hard as diamond, but gold is very soft. Tungsten carbide is also very brittle while gold is very ductile. One way to test it is to hammer on it. You can hammer a piece of gold, even a tiny amount, into a fairly large sheet.
Yea… no. There are better ways to test it without subjecting it to physical deformation.
People cut into coins all the time in the old days. That’s how they used to verify if the coin is real. Gold cuts easily. I heard the reason coins have those roll edges is either to hide the cut marks or to keep people from scamming others by shaving off tiny bits of a coin that passes through their hands.
And by the way I tested the platinum bullion I got this way. Cut into it a little bit, if it cuts easily, it’s real (platinum isn’t particularly hard either). Also for platinum, heat it with a torch until it glows red hot (it has a very high melting point). When it cools back down to room temperature there should be NO color change. If there is any, it’s not platinum (yes you may say the same about aluminum, but aluminum will not survive to red hot temperature and remain solid, and also aluminum is VERY light).
I notice you put gold in scare quotes but not free. Are you sure they’re not trying to buy your baby’s soul? 
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uh… you said “hammer on it” before…
Smashing a coin is not the same as cutting a tiny notch in the side…
Take it to a gold jewelry shop and ask. They’ll know.
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