The Analysis of Coade Stone Artefacts

A comprehensive literature survey on the published analyses of Coade stone and some of its contemporaries is followed by an evaluation of the comparative information that is accessible from the experimental techniques used, namely XRF, XRD, SEM/EDAXS and Raman spectroscopy. Consideration of the information obtained from noninvasive and invasive analyses used for excised specimens. The relationship between the elemental oxide percentages determined from the analyses and the composition of the raw materials reported in the published recipe for Coade stone. Determination of the average elemental oxide composition for several genuine Coade stone dated specimens from different locations in the current work and in the previous literature affords the conclusion that the recipe composition has not changed during the production life of the manufactory. The use of XRF particularly for estimating the sourcing of the raw materials from minor heavy metal element content.