Gold Jewelry: Real/Fake?

Gold is one of the most popular metals in terms of jewelry. From ancient times, Gold has held a very prominent place among all the valuable metals. It has been always a sign of prosperity and wealth.

Even today, gold jewelry is very popular among the masses due to the same reasons. Due to excellent craftsmanship and improved methods to extract the best quality, gold jewelry is now available in very eye catching designs. However, with the ever increasing popularity and need of gold jewelry, you can be never sure whether the jewelry you are buying is a real deal.

The most important feature to look out for is the stamp karats that mention the amount of gold in the jewelry. If there are no markings stating that it's 10k, 14k, 18k, or 22k, chances are that it isn't real gold. Also, the lower the number of karats, the lower the amount of gold to other types of metal in the jewelry; 24k gold is pure gold with no added metals. However, very seldom do you ever see 24 karat gold. Based on a 24-level scale, where "24 Karat gold" means pure gold or 99.9% gold, 18 Karat gold would be an alloy in which 18 parts out of 24 are pure gold and the remaining 6 parts are other metals.

Now, in case the jewelry is stamped and you still have doubts whether or not it is real gold, you can take it to certain jewelers to find out whether or not it is real gold. A jeweler will perform a chemical test or look at the piece under a jeweler's loop (magnifying lens) to determine the quality of the piece. Having them authenticate and identify your jewelry will very quickly let you know if your jewelry is real or just a fake.

However, the best way to tell the purity of gold is by purchasing a Nitric acid test kit. This test covers karats ranging from 10 karat to 22k karat. Most of the times, markings on gold jewelry are incorrect and if you're not buying from a reputable jeweler, you should undoubtedly use the Nitric acid test kit.

However, even if all this does not help and you are still not sure about gold jewelry that you are about to buy. The best possible solution is to move on and find another piece that you can feel confident about.

Remember, 'Looks can be deceptive'. Hence, always ask for the certification of authentication for each gold jewelry that you buy.

Eleftherios Galanis

Hi, This is Webmaster from http://e-kosmo.gr/ provides Silver Jewelery, Gold Jewelery, and Platinum Jewelery. It's an online store, so you can find rings, earrings, bracelets, pendant and many other jewelery also.