Cast Iron Gold Pan, circa mid 19th century
The Art of gold panning is a simple process. Once a suitable placer deposit is located, some alluvial deposits are scooped into a pan, where they are then wetted and loosed from attached soils by soaking, fingering and aggressive agitation in water. This is called stratification; which helps dense materials, like gold, sink to the bottom of the pan. Materials with low specific gravity will rise upward, allowing these to be washed out of the pan, whereas materials with higher specific gravity, sinking to the bottom of the sediment during stratification, will remain in the pan allowing examination and collection by the prospector. These dense materials usually consist of black sand with whatever stones or dense metal particles that may be found in the deposit that is used for source material.
-Specs: 10in Diameter and 1.5in tall