TAA i.3.14.3

Page number
3
Caption
Note for scientific publication on gold
Creator
Date of creation
c. 1923–1939
Material
Ink
Paper
Measurements
22.9 x 16.7 cm (h x w)
Notes

Handwritten notes on gold found in jewellery and other items from the New Kingdom, page 3. This page includes a quotation of Alfred Lucas' account published in The Tomb of Tut-Ankh-Amen ii (1927), pp. 172 ff., and a quote from Dr Alexander Scott on rose gold (see TAA i.3.14.9). Professor Wood, Johnson, Matthey & Co., and James Ogden are also mentioned on this page.

Transcription

                                      (3)

 

question is probably due to oxide of iron, but in

what manner it was produced is not known, as it

occurs on both sides of most of the objects on which

it is present. This suggests that the object may have

been dipped in a solution of an iron salt and then

heated. That this colour is inten is intentional is

shown by its regular and systematic distribution

on certain objects, or on certain parts of objects.”

 

Dr Alexander Scott, F.R.S., writes/<says (by letter> (May 1933) that

experiments by Professor R.W. Wood (U.S.A.), made <u> from

the point of view of the physicist, showed that the

gold from which the red-coloured sequins were made

contained iron. In May a year ago, Mr J. R. Ogden 

got Messrs. Johnson, Matthey & Co., the gold experts, to

make an analysis of one of the sequins (from a

robe of Tut.Ankh.Amen – Author’s Note.) and they reported

that the alloy contained 1.55 per cent of iron. Doubtless

Mr Ogden sent to you a copy of the analysis which 

fully explained the source of the colour, known for

years now to consist of nothing but oxide of iron.

My own analysis, since made with extreme care