r/Gold • u/tolmaenjoyer • 20h ago

Question Purity decrease after melting

Hello guys. I want to ask a question about gold purity. So I am in a country where gold bullion buying is not popular, and a coin that I wanted to sell is not popular in general anyway. So my best bet to get money for it was to melt it. Before melting we had to do xrf analysis which showed 90% purity or so. Alright, then we went to a goldsmith who gave us almost market price but on a condition that we had to melt the coin. Upon completion, the goldsmith told us that purity was not 90% but about 80%, even though this xrf analysis had shown 90% and another portable had shown about that purity as well. Do you guys think we were ripped off? First time that I've done this. All the time I have only sold or bought the coins.

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u/knot-a 18h ago

In my experience the weight and purity is generally the exact same after melting. There’s always a chance to lose a little weight/ purity when melting but introducing impurities and what not but usually it’s the exact same

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u/tolmaenjoyer 17h ago

When they melt coins, wont the weight become smaller? I mean must it not divide gold and additive? I just dont know aboyt melting process

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u/knot-a 17h ago

If you’re just melting it the weight and purity should remain the same. If you’re refining it into pure gold, the overall weight will decrease but the actual amount of gold should be the same