How can I test for real gold?
Answer:
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.
take it to a jeweler
it has a hallmark if it is gold
Real gold will not be VERY shiny. It should sheen but not shine brilliantly.
Wearing it may help. If it discolours or if your skin discolours, it's most likely fake or low in gold content.
Alternatively, just take it to the local jewellers and they'll help you out.
you can take it to a jeweler and have an acid test done on it.some do it for free but most charge between 10-20 dollars. and even if it does have a hallmark it doesnt mean its real, it could have been made illegally or it could just be gold plated.good luck
The purity of gold is usually determined by a method called "Fire Assay", Basically the gold (and its alloying or impurity) metals are alloyed with lead a high temperature (1100 degrees Celsius) The molten lead oxidises to form litharge and this along with the base metals like copper and zinc are absorbed in to a porous ceramic cup called a cupel. By a quirk of nature the molten precious metals have a higher surface tension and are not absorbed into the cupel, where they remain as a molten bead. On cooling this bead is taken from the couple and rolled out very thinly, this is then usually coiled and dropped into hot dilute nitric acid which removes the silver. The gold that remains (as long as no platinum group metals are present) is the annealed at about 800 degrees Celsius which consolidates it and it shrinks in size to form a coil called a cornet. By knowing the start weight of the impure gold and the weight of the pure gold cornet the purity of the gold can be calculated. The result in normally expresses in carats, where 24 carats is pure gold, therefore 18 carat gold contains 18/24ths or 75.00 % by weight.
For very high purity gold the impurities are measured and the gold is determined by difference.
If someting is real gold it will be gold right through. Just scratch the surface of it. If there is a difference between the surface and inner colour then it is not gold. You don't have to take it to a jeweler.
take it to the jewellers they will tell if its real or not
Show it to any woman!
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