THE ANALYSIS OF GOLD COINS—A COMPARISON OF RESULTS OBTAINED BY NON-DESTRUCTIVE METHODS

This paper discusses a systematic difference between the results found when one series of Dark-Age gold coins were analysed both by neutron activation and by specific gravity analysis and when a second series of similar coins was analysed by the Oxford Milliprobe and by specific gravity. No reason is given for this systematic difference, although there is evidence that all three methods are slightly in error, two of them giving results for gold which are too high and the specific gravity method giving results which are too low.