How to check gold at home?

Gold is one of the most popular precious metals for jewelry: earrings, rings, chains, crosses and brooches and many other products are made from this material. Its dear and pleasant shine is loved by both men and women. A huge assortment of jewelry is presented in jewelry stores, but sometimes we wonder about the quality of this alloy, because at present fraudsters often fake this noble metal. And nobody wants to buy a fake instead of expensive jewelry. Therefore, it will not be superfluous to learn how to check gold at home.

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What is real gold?

In its pure form, gold is a soft and pliable metal, which is why it can not be used by jewelers for the production of jewelry. In order to strengthen the gold, it contains some additives:

• Copper.
• Bronze.
• Silver.
• Cadmium.
• Platinum.
• Nickel.
• Brass.

Important! Depending on the additives used in the alloy, white, yellow and red gold are distinguished.

Types of gold

According to the color characteristic, three types of metal shine are distinguished:

1. Yellow gold is considered a classic option - its color is determined by the following components: gold, silver and copper, which are present in equal amounts in the alloy.
2. Red metal was used for the manufacture of cutlery and church utensils. This alloy is the cheapest since copper predominates in its composition.
3. Recently, white gold has come into fashion. A solid steel luster is achieved by the addition of platinum, but the cost of such products is higher.

Gold content

It is well known that all precious products bear a mark confirming its authenticity and quality. In addition, each combination of numbers corresponds to a certain percentage of gold in the alloy. How to find out a sample of gold at home and what are its values?

Important! You can consider the sample on the product if you carefully examine the surface of the gold jewelry. If this is a ring, then often it is located inside, and if the earrings are on their temple. Use a magnifier to increase the stigma.

Gold Sample Value:

• 999. This designation indicates pure metal without any impurities. A product with such a breakdown does not exist, but it is quite possible to purchase ingots with such a breakdown in a jar. Their weight starts with one gram.
• 750. Such products are not often found, but such a test indicates a 75% content in the composition of precisely gold.
• 585 and 583 are the most common alloys that are used in the manufacture of gold jewelry. That is, in such products the proportion of precious metal is slightly higher than 50%.
• 375. And gold with such a low breakdown is used for the manufacture of watches, inlaid and decorated with various items, as well as antiques. Such material is reliable and low cost.

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Not all that glitters is gold

After buying jewelry, it makes sense to check gold at home, because unscrupulous manufacturers can go into deliberate deception with a view to profit. And what a shame, sometimes the inspection bodies may be at the same time, or even not guess about a fake, since the manufacturer can send for analysis only a high-quality element of the product. And cases with fakes can be found a huge number.

Therefore, we want to understand how to find out gold or not at home.

To begin, consider what fakes fraudsters can give for gold:

1. Tungsten. It is this metal that they are trying to pass off as precious material, since its density is similar to gold and amounts to 19.3 g / cm3. The process is as follows: create a blank of tungsten, which in the future is simply covered with gilding. It is possible to reveal the fraud if you drill a hole in the product through which it will be visible what is inside.
2. Pyrites. It has a pleasant yellow sheen.
3. Copper. The cheapest and easiest option to cheat. A thin gold plating is applied to a copper product.
4. Red brass. Famous and insidious simulator of yellow metal. With a visual inspection, even an experienced jeweler will not be able to expose such a fake, as this alloy is similar to gold. It consists of: copper 90% and zinc 10%, and additional impurities make it easy to change the color of the metal.

There are many methods for verifying gold at home for authenticity, which we will discuss later.

Visual inspection of jewelry

The easiest and most priority way is to visualize the jewelry when buying:

1. Inspect the gold item from all sides.
2. Find the location of the sample, examine it, consider the combination of numbers and other symbols that indicate quality.
3. In addition to the test, the gold jewelry must be sealed and have a tag with information.
4. Pay attention to polishing - a quality decoration will shine and shine brightly. And the color of the product will be plain.
5. If the jewelry is with precious stones, then they must be firmly fixed.
6. The product should not have any scratches, cracks, stains. Spraying should be bright, uniform - both on the front side of the jewelry, and with the wrong side.

The rest of the ways to check the metal for gold at home, you can try on arrival home.

Real Gold Definition by Sound

This method, how to check the quality of gold at home, has been known since ancient times. In the old days, the authenticity of gold coins was so often checked. In order to find out if the fake is in front of you, throw the product on a flat and solid floor. The sound of real gold jewelry is like a crystal jingle. A clear and ringing sound will confirm the authenticity of the product.

Important! This method is suitable for you if you have absolute hearing. And another disadvantage of the method is the inability to assess the quality of gold in chains and bracelets.

Iodine - an indicator of authenticity

How to check gold at home for the authenticity of iodine? Very simple, especially since this substance is available in every home:

1. For the experiment, arm yourself with a bottle of iodine, a cotton swab and a golden item.
2. It is best to wipe its surface well first, even in an inconspicuous place you can hold it with fine sandpaper.
3. Dip the stick in iodine and apply liquid to the treated surface.
4. Wait a while.

Important! If a dark spot appears at the place of contact of gold and iodine, it means precious metal. None of the metals reacts with iodine except gold.

After the experiment, remove the spot by wiping it with a napkin dipped in Coca-Cola.

Vinegar and gold

If you don’t have iodine at home, you can use vinegar. How to check gold at home for authenticity with vinegar? The procedure is as simple as in the previous case. Dip the gold item in a jar of vinegar and wait a while.

Important! Gold under the influence of acetic acid does not darken and does not change color.

Authentic magnet and lapis pencil

You can check gold at home using a magnet. Gold is not attracted to it, but if the jewelry is made of another metal, it will stick easily.

A lapis pencil is an antiseptic whose active substance is silver nitrate. You can buy the product at the nearest pharmacy. What do we have to do? First wet the gold jewelry with plain water, and then draw a pencil on it with a lap pencil. If the metal remained pure, gold is real, and if the reaction has begun - imitation.

Reaction to the sun

On a sunny and clear day, you can conduct the following experiment:

1. First, take the golden thing in your hands and carefully look at it in the shade.
2. Then transfer the product to sunlight.

Now turn on your observation!

Important! Real gold in the shade and in the sunlight will have the same color and brilliance, unlike fakes that darken in the shade.

Another gold item will help to identify a fake

How to check gold at home with another jewelry? The most important thing is that its quality is confirmed and you are 100% sure of it. An old family jewel is perfect. Then we proceed as follows: we take both products and draw two lines on a hard surface.

Important! The resulting prints should be as similar as possible to each other, but if the tracks noticeably differ from each other, then this is a fake.

Ceramic coating helps identify fake

In almost a similar way, traces of a gold product on ceramics can be analyzed. Swipe the product over the unglazed surface and examine the print. Golden color is excellent, but gray indicates fake from pyrite.

Important! But keep in mind that from this effect on real gold, most likely, there will be scratches

Although, just scratches will also help identify poor-quality imitation. Thanks to this mechanical effect, you can look under the top layer of gilding and find out if there is another metal under it.

Vintage way with bread

In the old days, there was no test on gold, nor iodine at hand. But there were ways to determine the authenticity of the precious metal. One of them is the crumb of brown bread. How to find out gold or not at home in such an unusual way?

The actions are as follows:

1. Combine a small volume of water with bread crumb.
2. Knead thoroughly until a homogeneous gruel is obtained.
3. Put the golden thing in the mixture and thoroughly stick around.
4. We leave everything in this form and wait for complete drying.
5. Break the dry product and get the gold item

Important! If the metal has no trace, then gold is of excellent quality. And if the product showed signs of oxidation, then before you, unfortunately, is a fake.

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Some tips

Checking gold at home is easy. But it is better to avoid this by following these rules:

1. It is best to buy gold jewelry in specialized jewelry stores, and not in modest and obscure shops. In addition to a positive reputation, large stores will provide you with quality documents for products.
2. Be sure to have a visual inspection before buying. After the first delight from the beauty of the jewelry, switch to a close analysis. Feel free to examine the product carefully.
3. Try to compare the selected product with a gold ring, the quality of which you have no doubt. Such a visual analysis will also help to calculate the fake.

Well, no one forbids you to bring a small magnet or a pencil with you to the store.

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Stock footage

Now you know how to identify gold at home for authenticity. Most importantly, these methods are simple and convenient, and their list is quite large. You can choose the most suitable for you, or try several at once.