how can you tell if your julery is real gold, is there any step you could do to find out.?

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

Real gold is usually marked with the karats, like 10K, 12K, 14K, 18K etc. although I have seen gold that is not marked, but not often. There are also acid kits that you can use - they tend to be expensive (and dangerous - it's acid after all!) so aren't a good option unless you have a bunch of stuff to identify.
I do find that on real gold jewlery the jump rings (small rings that attach clasps and things) tend to be soldered closed. On jewlery set with stones, look closely at the stones, if they are not held in by prongs or bezels (a rim of metal all around the stone) it's probably not gold. Gold is also usually heavier than "fake" stuff, although I've got some stuff that feels light that is marked as 14K - I think it's the structure of the pieces that makes it look like there is more material than is really there.
If it's a commercially make piece and it's not marked, it's probably not gold but there are rare exceptions. Bottom line tho, if you can't tell if it's real or not on close examination, and you like it, wear it. Nobody else will know either.

Answer 3

It should be marked with the karat weight. If not, it's probably not real. Unless.... If it was custom made by a private jeweler, it may not be marked (it doesn't come that way, you know), so you're probably best off taking it to a jeweler and having them test it. Some other signs: if the color fades or tarnishes, it's not gold, and, of course, if it turns your skin green, it's not gold.

Answer 4

Well pure gold is to soft to be made into jewelery. But if you take an object that's has a similar gold alloy to the object you want to test and put them in a bowl of water, if they weigh the same and make the water level rise the same its gold.

Answer 5

You could measure its buoyancy and compare it to real gold, or use the old trick of scratching it.

Answer 6

Somewhere on it will be inscribed how many carats it is, such as 14k or 18k. Check the inside of a ring or on the clasp of a necklace.

Answer 7

HI:

Take it to reputable Jewelry store and they can tell you if it real or not.