As a means of understanding pulsed reverse plating of gold from cyanide baths, the anodic gold oxidation has been characterized by electrochemical methods, with supplemental information from a quartz crystal microbalance. Dissolution into electrolytes containing excess cyanide and into a gold-cyanide plating bath was compared. Results suggest that in the initial moments after the cathodic portion the dissolution proceeds with a mechanism involving excess cyanide. At longer times, a more complex mechanism leading to an adsorbed AuCN layer on the gold surface prevails. These results may provide guidance in developing plating waveforms for deposited hard gold with desirable properties. (C) 2010 The Electrochemical Society. [DOI: 10.1149/1.3501991] All rights reserved.