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There鈥檚 gold in them thar drawers. Or there was, until recently, at the 精品SM在线影片 Division of Continuing Education.

When Bernadette Rochell retired as director of budget and finance, one of her staff members stumped her with a curious question: What should we do with the gold?

Gold? What gold?

It turned out that in December 1998, when the division was making a chaotic move from two decrepit cottages in the Grandview Terrace area into a converted fraternity, someone clearing out a desk drawer had happened upon a small plastic bag filled with what appeared to be gold flakes, marked 鈥�2 oz #16 Alaskan $580.00.鈥�

鈥淚 said, 鈥楲et鈥檚 throw it in the safe鈥� and then, frankly, I promptly forgot about it,鈥� says Anne K. Heinz, dean of continuing education.

Now, 15 years later, her memory jogged, she gave the task of figuring out ownership of the gold to the new director of budget and finance, Nate Bindel, as one of his first assignments. He took it up the line and eventually CU legal and financial officials ruled that the school could put the gold up for sale to benefit its programs.

鈥淭hey determined it was not 鈥榓bandoned property,鈥� but CU-Boulder property, since there was no manner of identifying the owner,鈥� Heinz says.

Of course, at that point everyone was simply taking it on faith that the substance was, as labeled, real gold. But when you work at a major research university with a highly regarded geological sciences program, finding someone to confirm that isn鈥檛 too hard.

Enter Fredrick Luiszer, head of the Laboratory of Environmental and Geological Studies, who had been contacted by department Chairman Lang Farmer about determining the makeup of the alleged gold.

鈥淚t was amazing how small two Troy ounces was; just a small tablespoon,鈥� he says.

Luiszer took a tiny fragment of the substance 鈥� 鈥淚 calculated that it was worth maybe $1.50鈥� 鈥� and began the process by dissolving it in Aqua Regia, a highly corrosive acid mixture. Then he used a peristaltic pump to 鈥渘ebulize鈥� the resulting liquid into vapor, which was then run through a plasma flame (鈥淚t鈥檚 like a concentrated microwave,鈥� he says) burning at an astounding 8,000 degrees Kelvin 鈥� some 37 percent hotter than the surface of the sun. Electrons from the resulting ionized gas gave off light waves, which were measured by the lab鈥檚 spectrometer.

鈥淚 determined that it was around 90 percent gold,鈥� he says.

Now it was time to sell. Heinz contacted CU-Boulder alum Daryl Mercer, who has owned Tebo Coin Company since 1978. Mercer said he would sell the gold for no commission and sent it to a gold processer in Texas to conduct a formal assay.

In the assay process, the substance was melted down, drilled and analyzed. The sample was mostly gold, all right, with a little silver.

鈥淪o they presented us a check for $2,653.72,鈥� Heinz says.

For the record, that little bag of CU gold appreciated by 457 percent during its time in desk drawers and a safe at Continuing Education. Heinz says the proceeds will fund small scholarships for summer session.

鈥淚t鈥檚 a fascinating story,鈥� Luiszer says. 鈥淪omething about gold tweaks people鈥檚 imaginations. Very few people are not fascinated by the glitter of gold.鈥�