Is Your Gold Jewelry Genuine? Key Tips

Have you ever wondered if your gold jewelry was actually gold? Unfortunately, fake gold pieces are fairly common, and many people have been taken in by phony gold jewelry. If you are concerned about any of your items, you can test them at home in several ways. Here are some good ideas for determining if your gold jewelry is the real thing.

Hallmark

One indication of whether or not your gold item is real gold is the hallmark. This is a mark, or markings, engraved onto the jewelry. These markings take a number of different forms. European gold items tend to have animal symbols to indicate the date the piece or place it was made. They will generally have an engraved number, such as 750, which denotes the fineness, or purity, of the gold.

The United States does not require that gold jewelry is marked for purity as some countries do, but most jewelry makers mark their pieces anyway. Typically, jewelry made in the U.S is marked by the karat. For instance, the mark "18K" means that the piece is 18-karat gold and has a high gold content.

Vinegar

As strange as it might seem, you can use vinegar to test your gold jewelry. Pour some white vinegar into a glass container. Then drop the piece into the liquid and leave it in the container for at least 15 minutes before taking it out. Rinse the jewelry with water. Next, take a close look at the item. Real gold will shine when it's soaked in white vinegar. If the item is genuine, it will shine brightly. A fake gold piece will simply change color.

Magnet

Unlike some other metals, gold is not attracted to magnetic fields. If your gold item is attracted to a magnet, then the piece almost certainly is a fake. This test only tells you if an item is fake, however. It cannot tell you if your jewelry is genuine because there are several metals, such as copper and lead, which, like gold, have no attraction to magnets. So it's possible that if your jewelry is not attracted to a magnet, it could be gold-plated with another metal underneath.

Using these tests and indicators to determine the genuineness of your gold jewelry is helpful, but not definitive. To be absolutely certain your item is gold, it's a good idea to take the piece to a reputable gold buyer who can give you a definite answer.