Touchston from Wakayama Prefecture, Japan, 1990

Made:
1990
Touchstone from Ugui Village, Higashi-Muro Districe Touchstone from Ugui Village, Higashi-Muro Districe Touchstone from Ugui Village, Higashi-Muro Districe Touchstone from Ugui Village, Higashi-Muro Districe

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Creative Commons LicenseThis image is released under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 Licence

Buy this image as a print 

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License this image for commercial use at Science and Society Picture Library

License

Creative Commons LicenseThis image is released under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 Licence

Buy this image as a print 

Buy

License this image for commercial use at Science and Society Picture Library

License

Creative Commons LicenseThis image is released under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 Licence

Buy this image as a print 

Buy

License this image for commercial use at Science and Society Picture Library

License

Touchstone from Ugui Village, Higashi-Muro Districe
Science Museum Group
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum

Touchstone from Ugui Village, Higashi-Muro Districe
Science Museum Group
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum

Touchstone from Ugui Village, Higashi-Muro Districe
Science Museum Group
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum

Touchstone from Ugui Village, Higashi-Muro Districe
Science Museum Group
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum

Touchstone from Ugui Village, Higashi-Muro Districe, Wakayama Prefecture, Japan. ‘Nachi Black’ is the popular name of this stone, used for ink stones and touchstones. Previous identifier: 1990-2

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 the main means of assaying the quality of gold throughout history, but remain in use today.

Details

Category:
Metallurgy
Object Number:
2019-80
Materials:
stone
type:
touchstone
credit:
Gift of Dr W.A. Oddy