How can you tell if your gold jewlry is real gold or just fake without going to a jewler?

Question

I got a chain thats supposed to be yellow, and 18 karat gold (it was a gift) I not sure if it real or fake...anyway to tell without going to a jewler?

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

take a slate and lightly write on it using your gold jewelry you will notice a pale yellow line. Similarly you do the same with another jewelry which you know is genuine and compare the shades for both of them and both should be equal otherwise you jewelry is not real gold. In fact this is how gold is tested by goldsmiths and pawn brokers also.

Answer 3

In America since 1900, all gold must be stamped with the amount of gold in it. Take a loupe or a magnifying glass (depending on your eyesight), and look on the chains ends or clasps. That is where the stamp usually would be. It would say one of these things: 10K; 14k; 18k; 24k (that would have a plastic case); 18k over 925 (925 meaning silver); HGE=hard gold electroplated=not pure gold, gold electroplated over metal; European gold=9K

Answer 4

THIS IS HOW!!!
If it is not gold the metal will taste acidic.
Gold has no taste to it no acidity whatsoever.
If you bit the gold lightly and taste any acidity then it is not real gold this is what jewelers use to do before the high tech testing.

Answer 5

bite it on like the clasp or some other non visible place. if it bends or you can see your tooth mark....its real gold, b/c as a metal it is extremely soft. the higher the karat, the softer it will be.....

Answer 6

if you know someone that has low iron, you can actually take gold and rub it on their face and it will leave a black mark. I know it sounds dumb, but it works. plus there should be a small tag near the clasp that would say "18k"

Answer 7

if its real it should be stamped! like 10k and are 24k