quick and easy way to test if gold chains are real?

Question

i know that bleach is not a good idea, any other suggestions? some one told me lemon juice but i have not tried that yet

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

Best Way To Test Gold

Answer 3

Look for the hallmark. All REAL gold is stamped with a hallmark. Usually the Karat weight aka. 14k 18k etc. Sometimes the piece is stamped w/ the country of origin, for example made in Italy. You have to look very closely for these things sometimes, usually someplace by the clasp on a chain, and sometimes it's helpful to use a magnifying glass. If you have a piece that has no hallmark, or looks cheaply made chances are it isn't real. Some pieces are gold over silver but by law have to be hallmarked as such, and usually have an inferior clasp.

I know of no chemical you can use besides acid, which is what pawn brokers use to test for the validity of gold pieces.

Answer 4

scrape it against brick or rocks outside of your house, it leaves a white or other mark its fake a$$, scratches gold its real and use jewlery cleaner and look for scuffing cleaners.

Answer 5

you could take a bite...if you leave a mark its probrably gold..that test works with 14kt gold and up

Answer 6

gold gets black with bleach, other than that you need acid to test it, go to a pawn shop they will do it for free.

Answer 7

just go to gold shop

Answer 8

That's not right

Answer 9

Thank you! very valuable information and this gives me better knowledge on the topic

Answer 10

If it turns yo shite green it's fake.