How to Check If Your Gold is Real or Not
Tuesday, September 24, 2013, 1:00 AM | Leave Comment
Do you intend to check the purity of your desired gold item? It is very important to know whether the gold meant for sale in today’s gold-hungry market is real or fake. Often, gold is mixed with other metals for making it more durable. However, it is still considered genuine as long as it reached a minimum standard of purity.
Nine carats is the minimum gold purity standard in the United Kingdom. Several people are not able to identify whether the gold, which they come across, is the real gold or some other metal with an appearance similar to gold.
Fake gold items present in the market are gold plated items, gold filled items, and heavy gold electroplates. There is great difference in value between real and fake gold. So, how can you identify whether the gold is real or fake?
Here are some tips that will help you to determine real gold from fake gold.
-
Look for the Hallmark
First look for the hallmark since it will tell you the standard of purity of gold in carats. The hallmark is generally located on the inner surface of rings, near the clasp of necklace or chains and on the reverse of pendants and brooches.
Nearly all available real gold is stamped with a hallmark. If any jewelry item does not carry the hallmark, it doesn’t mean that it is a fake gold. This particularly stands true for the older jewelry items.
-
Heaviness Test and Magnetization Test
If you cannot find any hallmark, feel the weight of the gold bullion in palm of your hand and compare it with another metal item of equal size.
Gold is a heavy metal. So, heaviness of the item can be a strong indicator confirming genuineness of the gold. You can even drop the gold bullion in a jug of water. If it is a real gold, it will sink and if it is fake gold, it will float.
A magnetization test is another good test to identify whether the gold bullion is real or fake. If the gold item gets attracted to a magnet, it is definitely not real gold. This doesn’t mean that there is absolutely no gold present in the specific item; it signifies that it is not made up of a substantial amount of gold.
-
Softness Test
Scratch the item with the end of a pin. If the point of pin sinks into the item like an edge of a knife into butter, then you can say that it is real gold. This is so, because real gold is very soft. The higher the purity of gold, the softer will be the gold item, and the higher will be the gold price per ounce for that item. If the pin bounces off, then you can assume that the item in your hand is made up of base metal.
-
Using the Gold Testing Kit
A gold testing kit contains acid solutions that are made up to different strengths to determine different standards of gold purity. You can easily get this kit from a gold bullion dealer.
Apply a droplet of acid solution to the gold bullion you intend to test; if no reaction takes place, you can know that it is made up of real gold.
If you observe an ugly black colour over the bullion, you can know that the gold bullion is made up of base metal. The jewelry, which is made using the base metal, will colour your skin over a considerable time. Also, such jewelry is known to have gold-coloured coating that wears off soon.
When buying gold from a gold bullion dealer or in the market, it is paramount to check if your desired bullion or gold item is real gold or not, saves you from getting duped!
The market gold price per ounce varies as per the economy in the market. It is advisable to buy gold items when the gold price per ounce is low and sell it when the price goes high. Doing so can provide good returns on your gold investment.
Throw us a like at Facebook.com/doable.finance
