How can you determine if it is really gold?

Question

My colleague bought a nice looking ring off of e*Bay, the seller claims it is 22 karat gold. He only wound up paying $29 dollars for the ring and I say that is just not possible. I felt the ring, and it feels like about 15 grams. And, it does indeed look like 22 karat gold but there is no bullion mark stamped inside. If somehow this was real gold, I would think my friend might be interested in trying to resell it at a higher price. But how can you determine if it is real? I don't think going to a geologist for some sort of an assay is an option. Are there any tell-tale things that can be spotted with a loupe perhaps, that would tip someone off it is real?

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

How To Determine Real Gold

Answer 3

This Site Might Help You.

RE:
How can you determine if it is really gold?
My colleague bought a nice looking ring off of e*Bay, the seller claims it is 22 karat gold. He only wound up paying $29 dollars for the ring and I say that is just not possible. I felt the ring, and it feels like about 15 grams. And, it does indeed look like 22 karat gold but there is no...

Answer 4

A 24 carat gold is 100% pure gold. Since it is not strong and rigid enough, a small amount of copper is added. Thus a 22 carat gold will contain 22 parts by weight of gold and rest copper.

Take it to a jeweler and he will quickly test it. They do non-destructive testing, i.e. by brushing a small metal file on it and observe the shining. There is no other way. For small ring, you can not use Archemedies' principle.

Thus only test is with jeweler if he is willing. It takes only few minutes.

Answer 5

It should say 22 karat on the inside. You can scratch test it. When you scratch it you will see if it is 22 karat gold platted or real 22 karat gold, because if it is real gold it won't leave a mark. It sounds fake to me. You can take it to a pawn shop and they can tell you if it is real or not for no charge, that would be youe best bet.

Answer 6

Lack of magnetism will just indicate it has no iron. Gold is very heavy and maleable, but if it is not 24 karat it might be hard to tell. There is an acid test but you probably don't have any available.

Answer 7

Scratch it with a sharp metal object. If it is still gold then you have gold. If it is 22ct gold it will be very soft gold meaning easy to bend or even break. Take care

Answer 8

This is just one method of determining the real gold
density of any solid = (weight in air - weight in water) / weight in air
Get a scale , a small spring balance , small flat form balance
the balance must read a very small reading such as a fraction of a gram.
1. . .Get your gold, weigh it in air
2. . . get a fine string (string used in sawing), make a knot on your gold and the balance.
3. . . dip the gold using the string.
4. . .weight the gold when it is in water, get the reading.
. . . . . you will notice that the reading of weight in water is less than the weight in air.
the difference in the reading in air and in water is called the buoyant force.
5. . . divide the buoyant force by the weight in air . . see the formula above
6. . . solving. . if your gold is pure the value must be near 19.3 gram /cc
density of Gold = 19.3 gram / cu.cm.
7. if the value is very much lesser. . . then it is not.

Answer 9

use a magnet the if it attracts thats means it is not gold if it does not, it is real

and here's some more to determine gold

the KEY here is the DENSITY. in turn Volume & Weight
For Ex, GOLD weighs 18000 kilograms per a block of one meter x one meter x one meter where as the same block of IRON weighs only 8000 kilograms

In other words a GOLD piece of 2.5 centimeter [one inch] width and 2.5 centimeter[one inch] height and 100 centimeter[four inches] length weighs
1.125 kilograms where as a similar block of IRON weighs only Half kilograms .

For the SAME volume, Fake Gold weighs less than the Real Gold.

Answer 10

Couple of things....
first wear it for a few days. if it turning your finger green it is either fake or just plated
second, take it to a jewelry store, pawn shop, coin store and ask how much they would give you for it. Trust me they will apply a chemical that will reveal all.
third, don 't make your friend feel too stupid when the truth is revealed
If it is fake, report the seller to ebay. You owe it to all of us