High quality gold mined from French Guyana. Mercury is used by small scale miners to amalgamate the gold. These nuggets were supplied by a client. Standard jewelry by Sam Abbay is made from 99% recycled precious metals.
We heated the nuggets under a vacuum hood to evaporate any mercury from the amalgam, then melted the gold to create a uniform alloy.
The nuggets are melted separately in case one or more contain impurities that inhibit workability. Substantial impurities would require refining, which is time consuming and costly.
The gold buttons are smashed into pancakes to test malleability.
Gold, silver, and copper are measured out to melt into an 18k alloy.
A gold ingot is poured from the melt.
The gold is formed into half-round ring stock in an old Italian rolling mill.
Gold wire is pulled through a drawplate to create the smaller ring stock.
The gold ring stock is bent into a circle and with the ends aligned in a tight joint.
A second alloy of gold with a slightly lower melting temperature fills the seam.
Excess gold is filed from the joint to create a smooth seam undetectable to the naked eye.
