how can I tell if my gold necklace?

Question

I have a gold coloured antique looking necklace,it is not hallmarked. How can I tell what it is made of without taking to a jeweller.

Answer 1

The lack of a hallmark (10k, 14k, 18k etc.) is not indicative of whether your piece is gold or not. In the United States it is against the FTC's regulations for the jeweler to hallmark a piece of jewelry unless it is accompanied by a maker's mark. So, when I first began making jewelry and did not have a trademark of my own, I did not hallmark my jewelry. Now that I have a maker's mark, I hallmark my jewelry with the appropriate metal hallmark and my maker's mark.

A jeweler cannot just look at a piece and tell you for certain whether it is gold or not; the jeweler will do a test to determine it.

To be scientfically accurate a sample of the metal in question must be assayed in a testing laboratory, but the following two tests have been used for many years and often are sufficiently accurate for a craftsperson or the owner of the metal in question.

To answer "Is It Gold?":

With a small file, make a scratch in an inconspicuous spot. While wearing rubber gloves, use a wooden, glass or plastic stick to apply a drop of nitric acid to the filed spot. Observe the reaction. When done, rinse everything well in running water.

If there is no reaction, it's gold.
If there's a bright green reaction, it's base metal.
If there's green in the scratch, it's a gold layer over base metal (goldplate).
If there's a milky reaction in the scratch, it's a gold layer over silver.

To answer "What Karat Is It?"

Determining karat requires a testing kit containing nitric acid, aqua regia, samples of known karat, and a touchstone of slate or ceramic.

The gold object to be tested is rubbed on the stone ("touched") to leave a streak. A parallel line is made with one of the test pieces of known karat. Both marks are flooded with acid and the reaction are observed. When the sample colors at the same rate as the test streak, a match has been made. Nitric acid is used for low karat golds; aqua regia is needed for higher karats.

Please note: these tests are for your information only. They are not accurate enough to rely upon when representing a piece for sale. Most jewelers have testing kits to use when determining if something is gold or not and its approximate karat. It is probably easiest to take the item to a jeweler than to set up the testing kits yourself.

Answer 2

Where did it come from? If from a shop or store then IF it isgold in the UK (and US I think) it MUST be hallmarked by law.

If it isn't......

You could try the bite test - but most folks do not know how "firm" 9, 14, 22 and (rare) 24 ct gold should be. Incidentally, the SOFTER the higher the gold content, gold is a very soft metal, especially when pure

If the necklace is chunky, you could also get a thin tall receptacle (test tube sort of shape) and see how much water it displaces. Then weigh it and see if you have the right weight for gold.

OR if you wish, take a tack, and in a hidden part of the necklace make aTINY scratch. If underneath is a different colour then it is not gold. if the cscratch is visialbe but still gold it looks promising.

A really quick way to detect VERY cheap jewellery is to see if it has an iron/steel content. Does it react to a magnet.

Take it to a jeweller to see if he wants to buy it (not to sell but you will then get a free comment - "oh no, it's paste my dear" or "hmm, possibly, howmuch were you thinking of (it's real))

Answer 3

If not a jeweler, then would you take it to a pawn shop. They usually have someone in the store that specializes in jewelry and can tell you if a piece is real and what it is made of. They might look at it for free or only charge you a few bucks.

Answer 4

check if there are any parts of it are faded, or peeling. If so, its probably plated. It would be quite heavy if its gold (well 18-24ct anyway). If its antique, it may not be a standard gold alloy (9ct, 14ct, 18ct, 22ct, 24ct). I would take it to the Assay Office (The Goldsmiths Company) where the hallmarking is done. they will be able to tell you exactly what metals are in the necklace. it will cost around 10-15pounds.

Answer 5

Biting it wont help, if it IS real it will dent because gold is very soft. But then you have a dented necklace. What's the big deal with taking it to a jeweler/pawn shop?

Answer 6

Take it to a jewellers and they'll do a test on it, if they can't find a hallmark, and will be able to tell if it is gold or not...

Answer 7

Why not take it to a jeweller ?

Answer 8

normally its free to ask a jeweler

OR adversely the price a pawn shop offers you will tell you right away if its real or not!

Answer 9

my mum bites gold to see if it is real ,i think if it is fake it will dent aand if it is real it wont ,but that onbly works if there is a biit of the neckless to bit and its not to small.

Answer 10

WIthout hallmark and proffessional advice, u'll have a hard time authenticating it...A big obvious give away that it isnt gold is discoloration (greenish mouldy crap)--gold, duh, doesnt discolor