Honestly, it's very inefficient (in terms of time and resources spent). Artificial gem production is much faster, easier and cheaper, with better payoff. Gold is also very much identifiable by where it was obtained. In terms of what to sell, specific isotopes of different elements should be better, like oxygen18 and such. Gems better still (wider market, less trackable, less under scrutiny). Valuables (ie golden pocket watches, Faberge-like eggs and such) better, and with lowest amount of heat directed at us.
And becoming known as a talented artist could be a good thing, socially.
1)Not when you're using magically efficient tools.
2)Not really.
Gemstones have regional appeal; the West might be infatuated by diamonds, for instance, but it holds much less interest to people in Africa or India. Jade's appeal in China does not translate to most of Europe.
And Faberge eggs are a what? for most of the world's population in Africa and Asia.
Gold's appeal however is universal, regardless of whether its the West or the Third World, Africa or Asia, America or Europe.
And its much easier to fence.
3)You can literally sell gold in a pawn shop if need be, whether jewelry, bars or coins.
No certification is required, and the buyer does not need specialized tools to assess its purity and validity as compared to gemstones, which have a much smaller class of discerning buyer.
Even supernaturals value gold in a way they dont other stuff, and use it as legal tender; Marcone paid his weregild in gold bullion.
4)We dont want to be known in those circles for those things.
It does not help us in any way I am aware of, and comes with major disadvantages with tegards to questions about the source of our raw materials and financial backing.
You cant just emerge out of nowhere with no data trail of training or patrons and financiers and expect people will not ask questions. Including law enforcement AND organized crime.
5)Dude, no. That stuff is all trackable in a way that raw precious metals are not. Veblen goods like gold watches and Faberge eggs are valuable for what brand they are, and their maker. No-name brand watches and Faberge egg knockoffs do not have the same demand, and draw investigation from the makers of the originals.
If we wanted to be tracked we'd just go back to the lottery plan and use the Crown of Eyes once on a lottery jackpot.
Easier to track gemstones though, and harder to find buyers.
Radiation could be a problem though.
Magically efficient nucleosynthesis with x10 time acceleration.
I assume Molly will figure out which source materials go best with what.
At least in case of gold, no, not really. It's trackable by impurities, and it's subject to more attention.
Plus, nuclear alchemy is really inefficient. Like, really inefficient. Let be give you an approximate calculation.
1)No it is not.
You can track unconcentrated gold ore by impurities.
Refined gold? Magically refined 24 karat gold? Nope.
Once its refined its fungible; pure gold from Sudan and from Australia look exactly the same in a spectrometer.
Comingle it, mint it in bars and coins, sell it to the jewelry industry, the electronics industry, bankers...everyone wants some.
2)There is a vastly greater global appetite for gold and platinum as both industrial metals, stores of value and as jewelry.
The yearly production of diamonds in 2019 is 149 million carats or 28.4 tons
Yearly demand for gold alone in the same year is more than 4000 tons, with platinum around 200 tons.
And unlike gems, it has universal appeal in places where gemstones dont; India for example, while still a developing country in 2022 has a demand for gold in excess of 800 tons yearly, an appetite that only rises as they get wealthier. This means that you can sell it in a lot more places, and use it as a medium of exchange.
3)The aesthetic is the cyberpunk/cybertech tools of The Wicked City. Its magically efficient.
We're not worrying about the power requirements for nucleosynthesis in the way we would if we were doing so in an actual nuclear reactor.
