"The reddish iridescence which you showed us, on the gold buttons from the corselet of king Tut (sequins from robe of Tut.ankh.Amen - Author's note), is very probably due to the presence of iron which the special assays of this gold have disclosed."

(May 1933). Both Dr. Alexander Scott & Dr. H. J. Plenderleith are of the opinion that for certain metallurgical reasons the alloy is not natural but artificial. Apparently iron in the native gold would be lost in the process of melting the rough ore. Drs. Scott and Plenderleith believe it is simply that Iron Pyrites (sulphide of iron) had been, in the first case most likely inadvertently, added to a smelting of the gold. For it is a notable fact that Iron Pyrites has been, even to the present day, mistaken for a gold ore. This would not only account for the iron in the gold but also for the total absence of copper, and the small percentage of silver, and, moreover, would not require an abnormally high temperature.

They also pointed out to me that if the rose film is removed and the gold re-heated the rose colour

(August 30, 2008)

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