There are some jewelry stores, especially those online stores, that sell different jewelry pieces as real ones while in fact they are fake and this is why they may be sold at low prices. There are several sources from which you can get jewelry such as local jewelry stores, online jewelry stores, auctions and you may also receive it as a gift to start asking yourself about these jewelry pieces and whether they are real or fake. The easiest way to discover the reality of the jewelry pieces that you have is to take them to a certified jeweler and ask him to test them for you, but what should you do if you want to discover the reality of these gold pieces on your own? In order to know whether your jewelry pieces are real or fake, you have to take a look at the following features that can be found in the fake gold.
1. Less than 10 Karats: First of all, you have to know that those gold jewelry pieces which are less than 10 Karats are considered to be fake according to the American standards.
2. One stamp: Fake gold is brassy in its look and the chains have one stamp only that can be found on one tab instead of the two stamps that are usually found on both tabs in real gold chains.
3. Discoloration: The color of the base metal appears to you to find that it is different from the color of the plating which disappears gradually after using the fake gold piece.
4. Not soldered: The o-ring which is behind the lobster in fake gold chains is not soldered like real gold chains because the heat of the torch that is used for soldering the o-ring can melt the fake chains.
5. Two colors: The part of the earring which goes into your ear differs in its color from the rest of the earring to find that you have two colors as one of them is gold tone while the other one is the color of the base metal.
6. No manufacturer: Fake gold rings and bracelets have different stamps such as GF, HGE, HGP, “14k” or “10k” without finding any stamps for the manufacturer.
7. Sings on the skin: Fake gold jewelry leaves signs on your skin when you wear it because the plating disappears gradually and the base metal appears to you to touch your skin and changes its color.
8. Magnet test: Most of the fake metals that are used for making jewelry are magnetic which means that they stick to the magnet but the real gold does not, so you can use a magnet to decide whether the gold jewelry that you have is made of real gold or fake.
9. Low density: Most of the metals are lower than gold in terms of their density as the density of pure gold which is 24K is approximately 19.3 g/ml.
10. Nitric acid: Put your jewelry piece in a stainless steel container, bring nitric acid to put a drop on your jewelry piece and watch the reaction.
– Green reaction means that the jewelry piece is gold plated or base metal.
– Milk-colored reaction means that the jewelry piece is sterling silver and plated with gold.
– Gold reaction means that the jewelry piece is brass which is plated with gold.
– Finally, No reaction means that the jewelry piece is made of real gold.
11. To know more about the quality of the jewelry piece or its carats, you will need to go to a certified jeweler.
Note: Use a magnifying glass to make it easy for you to see any markings or stamps on your jewelry pieces.
– Use a strong magnet to decide whether your jewelry is made of real gold or not.
What about diamond stones?
♦ Diamond stones which magnify texts and different items when they are placed on them are fake diamonds.
♦ Bring any source of focused light such as a penlight and hold the stone towards the light. If you find that it is possible for you to see through to the other side and there is not a halo around the stone then the stone is fake.
