Genuine Gold vs. Fake Gold Jewelry: How to Tell the Difference
Purchasing a valuable and expensive piece of jewelry like a gold chain can be risky if you’re unsure how to identify real gold from fake. Before you make any major purchase like this, it’s important to buy from a company that you trust. Do your research, read reviews, and carefully check the product descriptions to educate yourself prior to dropping all that cash on a hot new gold chain.
If you’ve purchased pieces in the past and questioned their authenticity, it’s a good idea to familiarize yourself with some of the most common methods for identifying fake gold. You don’t want to be caught walking around with an imitation chain around your neck. Here are just a few of the many ways to check your piece’s authenticity.
How to Identify a Genuine Gold Chain
Use the Magnet Test
The magnet test may be one of the easiest and most effective ways to test whether or not a gold chain is actually ... well ... gold. All you need for this test is a magnet. When held up to a piece of real gold, the magnet will not attract the chain because gold itself does not have magnetic properties. If you try the magnet test and your gold chain is attracted to it, this tells you that there’s a high level of iron or nickel in your piece.
But, even if your jewelry isn’t attracted to the magnet, there is still a chance it’s made from another substance besides gold that isn’t magnetic, so it’s best to do multiple tests of authenticity.
Drop It in a Jar of Water
Gold is a very dense metal and, when dropped in water, it should rapidly sink to the bottom of the container. This test is typically done with gold rings because they are smaller and lighter, but you can put your gold chain in a large bowl or jar of water to see how it reacts. Fake jewelry made from lighter materials will tend to float at the top or slowly float to the bottom.
Use a Gold-Testing Kit
Sometimes referred to as the acid test, gold-testing kits are designed to do just that—test your gold chain’s authenticity. If you’re looking to purchase a gold chain for men, or maybe you already have, and you’re wondering whether or not it’s legit, you can easily purchase one of these kits and have your answer in minutes.
Simply scratch a section of your piece, and then put on a drop of the nitric acid that comes with your gold-testing kit. Real gold should have no reaction with the acid while other materials used in counterfeit jewelry will turn green. Sometimes, real gold is added on top of sterling silver. If this is the case, you’ll notice a white milky reaction when the nitric acid touches the gold chain.
Look For the Gold Marking on the Jewelry
The most telling sign of whether or not a gold chain is truly gold can be found in the jewelry hallmark. Since 1906, jewelers have been required to include some type of stamp revealing the purity of a piece of jewelry. Sixty years later, the U.S. government instituted another regulation that required these hallmarks to also indicate who produced the article of jewelry.
If your gold chain is real, it will have a hallmark on it somewhere. However, this marking can reveal much more than just authenticity. From this hallmark, you’ll gain insight into how much pure gold is in the piece and which manufacturer the jewelry came from. To understand how pure your gold chain is, look at the number stamped somewhere on the jewelry. This number should fall between 1 to 999 or 0K to 24K. Most American jewelry producers use the karat system to identify purity. Following this method, 24K represents 100 percent pure gold, while the European numerical system operates a little differently. The number in this system represents the true percentage of gold. For example, a gold chain for men with a hallmark that reads “458” means the piece is 45.8 percent pure.
Don’t Fall for Imitation Swag
Unfortunately, there are companies that try to get away with selling fake gold pieces to customers and, as a consumer, it’s important to understand how to avoid these counterfeit pieces. If you’ve purchased pieces in the past, try using the magnet test or a gold-testing kit to learn more about your product. If you’re considering a new gold chain, be sure to purchase from a credible company that you trust. At Frost NYC, we pride ourselves on bringing customers top-quality gold chains for men that you feel confident rockin’ anywhere from the grocery store to the club.