HP Forum Archive 18

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Vintage 12C w/ REAL GOLD Plating??? Message #1 Posted by H. Conwi (No. Calif.) on 27 Sept 2008, 12:18 a.m. I read somewhere that the early 12Cs were actually gold plate to build credibility with traders. Is this true and how do you tell these units from the newer ones? I'm thinking any unit with the spiral manuals is probably a good candidate to be gold plated? I miss my 12C and want to replace it with an authentic period piece. Thanks!

The gold was on the inside... Message #2 Posted by Randy Sloyer on 27 Sept 2008, 4:37 p.m., in response to message #1 by H. Conwi (No. Calif.) As the entire circuit board was gold plated, both sides. Even the Chinese units of today still have some gold inside on the keyboard contacts. The bezels have all been a gold color anodized aluminum. Anything made in the USA with a serial number beginning with 27 or less would be what I would look for.

Re: The gold was on the inside... Message #3 Posted by H. Conwi (No. Calif.) on 30 Sept 2008, 12:49 p.m., in response to message #2 by Randy Sloyer Serial #27 it is! Thank you.

Re: Vintage 12C w/ REAL GOLD Plating??? Message #4 Posted by cyrille de Brebisson on 29 Sept 2008, 10:42 a.m., in response to message #1 by H. Conwi (No. Calif.) hello, Quote: I read somewhere that the early 12Cs were actually gold plate to build credibility with traders. Is this true and how do you tell these units from the newer ones? I do not know about old 12cs, but I know that the ACO created a couple (2) of pure gold metal face for the top metal part of the calculator for a 'luxury' demonstration thing in the early 2000 or so... I do not know where they ended up to be honnest.. cyrille

Re: Vintage 12C w/ REAL GOLD Plating??? Message #5 Posted by bill platt on 29 Sept 2008, 11:17 a.m., in response to message #1 by H. Conwi (No. Calif.) Oh come on! The bezels are Aluminum. And you are going to gold plate it? This is *exactly* the same sort of silly rumor we used to have in 3rd grade, when the pencil trade was hot. You know, the ones with the "gold" erasure ferrule would trade for ten "silver" ferruled pencils.

Re: Vintage 12C w/ REAL GOLD Plating??? Message #6 Posted by designnut on 29 Sept 2008, 6:43 p.m., in response to message #5 by bill platt a local plater had a solution that would "throw" gold onto anything. When he cleaned the tanks he used to find gold plated bugs that had fallen in the tank. One lady was interested in them, and he saved them for her. She soldered clasps on them and sold them as jewelry. Sam

Re: Vintage 12C w/ REAL GOLD Plating??? Message #7 Posted by bill platt on 29 Sept 2008, 8:31 p.m., in response to message #6 by designnut When I was in grad school I had to put a very thin coat of gold on everything. That's how you get SEM to work. The surface has to be conductive.

Re: Vintage 12C w/ REAL GOLD Plating??? Message #8 Posted by H. Conwi (No. Calif.) on 30 Sept 2008, 12:48 p.m., in response to message #5 by bill platt Quote: Oh come on! The bezels are Aluminum. And you are going to gold plate it? This is *exactly* the same sort of silly rumor we used to have in 3rd grade, when the pencil trade was hot. You know, the ones with the "gold" erasure ferrule would trade for ten "silver" ferruled pencils. I actually read this in a magazine article. I believe it may have been a 2006-ish issue of Fast Company. They lauded the 12C's design and mentioned that some early models had gold on the face plate to add credibility to the product...I figured this was the best place to find out if that was true or not.

Re: Vintage 12C w/ REAL GOLD Plating??? Message #9 Posted by bill platt on 30 Sept 2008, 5:49 p.m., in response to message #8 by H. Conwi (No. Calif.) Hi H, I'd never heard of "Fast Company" before! But it looks like a fun read. BTW, I have some pencils (which also have "gold" ferrules BTW) which really do trade at exorbitant prices: Blackwing 602. -Bill

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