To find out if your gold or bars are fake or genuine, use the following gold verification methods. It is recommended that you test your gold items using several methods, as the counterfeit gold items present replicate several aspects of the quality of real cash for gold. Home methods can help you test for real gold but professional tests reveal the exact fineness of your piece of jewelry.
If you have a strong magnet, such as a strong fridge magnet, you can test whether your gold is real by placing the magnet on the piece and seeing if it attracts it. Just because a piece sticks to a magnet does not mean that it is counterfeit, but genuine pieces of gold can be mixed in. The magnetic test is also suitable for testing jewellery, which is believed to have a high gold content.
Remember that other precious metals such as silver are not magnetic, so make sure you carry out additional tests to confirm that your item is genuine gold. Also remember that jewelry with strength elements such as wires and clasps do not make gold magnetic. Try this test only if you are willing to risk an object that has been damaged by acid, even if it is pure gold.
Gold tests with an acid set containing nitric or hydrochloric acid are best suited to determine whether it is real or counterfeit gold. Nitric acid tests are suitable for many things, but do not confirm that your jewelry or coin is gold. It can determine a few variables, but it is not the easiest way to tell if the gold is “real” or not.
This test is one of the easiest if you want to see if you have a real piece of gold jewelry. It is made to check other tests, and if a counterfeit gold coin or piece of jewelry passes, it is not gold. This test is the most reliable way to distinguish real gold from counterfeit gold because it is quick and easy and will not damage your jewelry.
To carry out this test, rub your gold with a black stone that leaves visible marks. To perform the nitric acid test, first rub your gold object with the black stone and then apply nitric acid to the marking.
If your piece of gold does not pass the magnifying glass test, you can be sure that you do not have a pure piece of gold. Remember that gold-plated jewelry contains a heavy basin of base metals, which means that the floating test only works to detect fake gold floating. Whether your piece is genuine or not, if it is genuine, there is no guarantee that a counterfeit piece is made of a non-magnetic metal to avoid failure.
Leaving that aside, this means that the way to verify that your gold is genuine is to scrape it off the unglazed ceramic tile. Be careful, however, as scraping off unglazed ceramic tiles or tiles is sufficient to detect traces of gold and prevent your jewelry from being damaged.
When a piece of jewelry is plated with 24k gold, it takes on a yellow hue. As we can see, yellow gold mixes well with other metals, making it strong enough to be used in jewelry. If another colour appears, such as copper or silver, this is a good indication that your jewellery is gold-plated.
If you scratch the surface of a jewelry plate and it leaves gold stripes, it means that your jewelry is probably gold. If you rub jewelry on your forehead and leave black stripes, it is most likely not real gold.
Real gold is stamped indicating the carat and weight of the jewelry. The number plate tells you whether the piece has a carat weight such as 14 or 24 carats, and many pieces of jewelry have a stamp indicating that the gold is genuine. Real gold with embossed hallmarks will note the carat or weight of jewelry as 10k or 14k.
Each piece is embossed with a specific number on the jewelry, the clasp, the inside of the ring, etc. The number can be any number that follows the letter K. If your jewelry comes from Europe, the hallmarks are stamped with decimals; for example, 585 indicates that the gold is 585% pure.
