Gold seems like an interesting element to get in solution and observe, but I lack aqua regia to dissolve it in, and I refuse using sodium cyanide. Does anyone know some alternate ways to dissolve gold?

Okay, I have one idea but I need to know if it's right. If I put some small flakes of gold I have (panned some), in a small vial, and added Hydrochloric acid and commercal hydrogen peroxide, and it would produce small bubbles of Chlorine that would form on the gold. The amount of Chlorine being produced shouldn't be very dangerous with literally a fifth of a small vial of this solution. Gold, like most metals, would react directly with a halogen, right. And this reaction would yield Auric Chloride.

Another idea, similar to the above, I would place some gold in a Tincture of Iodine solution. Iodine isn't as reactive, but it's a halogen.

Gold's reaction with the halogens, however, is VERY slow and takes a lot of time to complete.

Gold's reaction with the halogens, however, is VERY slow and takes a lot of time to complete.

Gold fillings dissolve in a few hours when solution is mixed

This should dissolve almost instantly due to the incredibly small particle size.

The smaller the fillings, the larger surface area per mass unit.

I'm getting a yellow-gold coloring in the solution, is this the color aqueous gold ions are supposed to make? It sounds obvious, but I'd like to be sure.

Now the solution is a kinda yellow-green color. It forms a brownish precipitate when I add ammonia to a drop. Then it forms a reddish solution when I add acetic acid to that. Note the acetate isn't very soluable, as one would expect from gold acetate. Weird, huh? I'm thinking it's a nickel-palladium-gold alloy like I read about. Nickel would give a greenish color to a solution.

Now the solution is a kinda yellow-green color. It forms a brownish precipitate when I add ammonia to a drop. Then it forms a reddish solution when I add acetic acid to that. Note the acetate isn't very soluable, as one would expect from gold acetate. Weird, huh? I'm thinking it's a nickel-palladium-gold alloy like I read about. Nickel would give a greenish color to a solution.

A solution of gold in HCl is beautifully orange/yellow. The green color you see is most likely due to copper impurity, but it might also be nickel (palladium I think is quite unrealistic, I simply cannot believe that the legs of a CPU are filled with palladium, that would make it really costly). Copper ions have a green color in aqueous HCl, not blue. So, the yellow/green color can perfectly be understood. Nickel ions also are green.

You can easily separate the two metals. Add a mild reductor to your liquid (I think vitamin C in acidic environment will do already) and then wait, till all gold has settled as metal. Decant the liquid, rinse and then redissolve the metal deposit. Now you only have fairly pure gold metal in solution.