Minerals and Metals in Ancient India v1.c28.s8.t5.20

v1.c28.s8.t5.20

The icons normally contained 100-400 ppm silver. Higher proportions of silver (items 4 and 5 in Table 20.9) were associated with high proportions of arsenic and might have been derived from *fahlerz* ore as explained before. Craddock (1981: 20) reported that some icons contain 0.1-0.4 per cent gold in the bulk, unrelated to gilding on the surface; thus specific efforts might have been made to employ the commonly processed placer deposit of Tibetan gold in alloying. The major use of gold was however in the process of gilding.