A customer recently came to us and gave us a considerable collection of typical old gold items that were to be traded in. Heirlooms, “out of fashion” items, old rings, brooches, earrings, fragments of necklaces and a few indefinable objects (picture 1).
Two artifacts only became apparent on second glance: a rather thick, roughly executed solid ring and a hook-shaped bent wire (Fig. 2). When asked about this, the customer explained that the two pieces came from the Valle del Cauca (Colombia), where her father, who had lived there for many years as an emigrant, had found them in a river. And no, she had no emotional attachment and she wanted to hand it in with the other pieces of old gold.
At this point, our attention had already been caught. Is it a coincidence that we ourselves have a strong relationship with the South American country, that our daughter lived there, that our grandson was born there and that we work closely with Casa Hogar, which runs non-profit educational projects in the region? And that our freelancer Nestor, who tested the jewelry for fineness, also comes from Colombia? That alone is worth a story. But it gets even more spectacular! After an initial inspection of the material, the hard work began: an alloy test with each individual fragment, setting the stones, determining the weight and recording everything in a table (Fig. 3). We held the two parts in our hands again and again. The single curved ring weighs a mighty 19 grams! The “hook” is ultra-light and delicate. Somehow you can almost physically feel that both objects have a significant history… so we intuitively begin to treat them with reverence. You can read what happens next here shortly…
