Touchstone from Czechoslovakia, 1978

Modern touchstone from Czechoslovakia communicated by John Forbes of the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths. Previous identifier: 1978-1.

Touchstones are fine-grained siliceous stones, on whose abrasive surface a gold sample undergoing checks for purity would be rubbed. A streak of gold would be left on the stone’s surface, which could be compared against gold of known quality, to establish the sample’s purity. Touchstones were perhaps the main means of assaying the quality of gold throughout history, but remain in use today.