How to Find Out If Jewelry Is Gold

Gold is expensive and attractive. Some jewelry stores short their customers on gold. Gold is made into karat form by mixing it with other metals to help the gold retain its shape for jewelry. Pure gold, referred to as 24-karat gold, is malleable and is mixed down to 10-, 14- or 18-karat gold for jewelry. The lowest karat that can be sold and called gold is 10 karat. This means there are 10 parts gold out of 24. Anything 10-karat gold is about 42 percent gold. There are a few things you can do to protect yourself when buying gold.

Instructions

1

Ask for assurances. Buy your jewelry in a well-known store that has a quality assurance program that tests items for purity. If the salesperson or store manager can't answer what type of program the place uses to test (X-rays and fire assay are two of the more sophisticated methods), find another vendor. If the store claims to test jewelry offsite, ask for the name of the lab. Contact it to verify the information.

2

Search for the mark. You may need a magnifying glass to find the karat mark. Its presence doesn't guarantee the item is real, but its absence means you should shop elsewhere. Examine the clasp on bracelets and necklaces. Study the band for the mark on rings. Note that European jewelry should contain marks that indicate the percentage of gold within the piece. So 750 indicates the jewelry is 75 percent gold.

3

Examine the workmanship. Look for fraying at the edges, an indication that the piece has minimal gold content.

4

Test it. Take the gold to a laboratory or test it with a kit. You can buy test kits online (See Resources), or contact the Gemological institute of America (see Resources). Testing is the only sure way to confirm whether a piece is gold.

5

Bend it. Gold is malleable and should change shape under bending or hammering. This works better on 18k gold and isn't accurate.