I am trying to sell a crucafix gold necklace online but I can't tell if it is real gold. I think that it is but how can I find out? It has a gold chain and the cross it self is gold and the jesus is silver or white gold. can anyone help me out? This necklace was bought my one of my relatives and by my knowledge, he only buys real gold...not fake. thanks in advance.
2007-04-06 17:14:44 · 15 answers · asked by Justine 3 in Beauty & Style ➔ Fashion & Accessories
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.
2007-04-08 05:21:33 · answer #1 · answered by shabocon 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It is most likely not solid gold. Solid gold is too soft and expensive to make jewelry with, especially a chain which will hold some weight. It is most likely gold plate, possibly a thick gold plate. If the crucifix is silver, unless it has a good coating on it, you may find that it gets tarnished. If it is silver, it will state it on the back.
As others have suggested, taking it to a jeweler would probably be the right thing to do. They see a lot of this stuff.
2007-04-06 17:27:13 · answer #2 · answered by drslowpoke 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Weigh the necklace, record it (in grams). Then, take a graduated cylinder (milliliter measurements). Fill it with some water and note how high it is. Put the necklace in and record the volume. Divide the mass by the volume to get the density of the necklace. Gold is 19.3 grams/mL, so if that's what you get, or close to it, it's real. Of course that's if it's pure gold. From the answers above I see 14k may not be 100% gold, so, uh, go with the acid test.
2016-04-01 01:35:42 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Should be a stamp on the jewelry somewhere...like 10k, 14k, 18k or 24K if it is real gold...if it says something like 14K gp then it is some other metal with gold plating over it. Silver should read on silver jewelry as silver or the numbers 925 will be stamped on the jewelry...
2007-04-06 17:21:22 · answer #4 · answered by snarf 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
put this in water, this is a ancient method by a scientist. first , how many kg of gold did that gold necklance is?. put the same weight gold bar maybe, gold item, the water overflow must be record. then put the necklance in the water, record the water overflow. if they are the same , it mean the necklance is pure gold not made from other metal
2007-04-06 17:19:40 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
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2016-05-01 19:42:01 · answer #6 · answered by ? 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Most necklaces have some sort of a stamp on it. If you don't see any number with a K next to it, chances are its sterling silver.
2007-04-06 18:40:27 · answer #7 · answered by 3whiskerbiscuits 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Generally real gold has a mark of carets. If not you will need to ask a jeweler.
2007-04-06 17:22:10 · answer #8 · answered by redunicorn 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Okay bite it! This sounds wierd but if it has bite marks in it its so fake.. Another one is to see the real color is it white gold if it is its fake also
2007-04-06 17:19:23 · answer #9 · answered by Autt 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
u can never be 100% so go to a jeweler and ask him if its gold and how many karats
2007-04-06 17:19:35 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋