How To Identify Real Gold?

[Paleoworld-101]

Hello everyone!

I think today I may have found my first gold piece of jewellery on the beach! I need a bit of help though in determining if it is real gold or if it is some other kind of metal.

It's a bit beaten up and scratched. I can't see any marking on it saying how many karats or anything though. For it's size I think it is quite heavy, it measures 17mm long, 16mm tall and is just over 2mm thick. It weighs at least 5 grams.

I read that gold is not magnetic whilst brass is so I put it next to a decent magnet and it was not attracted so it can't be brass.

How else can I tell if it is real gold or not? And if it is real, how much would it be worth based on it's weight (5 grams)?

I was thinking about taking it to a jeweller to get it looked at but I don't know if they charge for that sort of thing? I hope not.

Cheers,
Nathan

 

[Danmuss]

I'm not an expert on gold so I'm Very interested to know if gold jewelery is only real gold if it's stamped by hall markings or can some gold jewelery not have any markings and can still be real gold??

 

[casper]

Hi, I'm no expert but my hunch looking at the surface blisters is that it is gold plated base metal and the base metal is corroding.

casper

 

[Cuckoowaif]

Hi Nathan ,
I agree with Casper ... possibly only a small amount of gold on that one ....
Research how to do a SG Test ( Google SG test or specific gravity of metals )
That will help with knowing if a trip to the jeweller's is warranted .
Steve .

 

[jamie]

to me it looks like a plated piece mate, gold jewellery can come in many different base metals some not even a metal base, bangles for example can be a wax center with gold lining, a scratch test will tell you what gold it is covered with but from the pitting and "rubbed" off look to it in the photo i would guess plated (im a pawnbroker and see alot that look like this) , but dont let that stop you from getting out and finding more mate cause sooner or later you will come across that 1ct diamond 18ct gold ring, best of luck mate and hope i am wrong on my guess

 

[Danmuss]

to me it looks like a plated piece mate, gold jewellery can come in many different base metals some not even a metal base, bangles for example can be a wax center with gold lining, a scratch test will tell you what gold it is covered with but from the pitting and "rubbed" off look to it in the photo i would guess plated (im a pawnbroker and see alot that look like this) , but dont let that stop you from getting out and finding more mate cause sooner or later you will come across that 1ct diamond 18ct gold ring, best of luck mate and hope i am wrong on my guess

Hi mate
I'm not sure if there is a post somewhere providing a experts knowledge on how to identify Gold/Diamonds etc when out on the field, maybe you should start a post on how to test it there and then by simple methods if there's any,

I've found a few things and I really wish I knew there and then if it's real, fake or just plated gold..

Thanks Dan

 

[jamie]

im not really an expert, i just do it a lot at work, most jewellery will have a gold stamp saying what the "ct" is, even plated stuff will, some jewellery will say if its gold lined (GL), gold filled (GF), or rolled gold and some will have a hallmark showing the jeweler and who done the assay of the gold (dependent on age) but the easiest way to tell gold from junk is to see if it will stick to a decent magnet (dont test at the clasp on a chain/bracelet) if it sticks its junk then if it passes then scratch/acid test it, you can buy kits that will walk you through the steps but in saying that heavily plated chains/bracelets can pass both tests and wound need to be looked at or cut to see, when it comes to stones diamonds, rubys etc we use a little tell tale probe to check them
but examples of some marking to help identify "plated" jewellery
1/5th- 9ct
gold filled GF
9ct lined(also shown as) LD, LND
HGP (heavy gold plating)
HGE (heavy gold electroplating)

Generally solid gold will not wear, fade or change colour, but plated will

 

[Danmuss]

im not really an expert, i just do it a lot at work, most jewellery will have a gold stamp saying what the "ct" is, even plated stuff will, some jewellery will say if its gold lined (GL), gold filled (GF), or rolled gold and some will have a hallmark showing the jeweler and who done the assay of the gold (dependent on age) but the easiest way to tell gold from junk is to see if it will stick to a decent magnet (dont test at the clasp on a chain/bracelet) if it sticks its junk then if it passes then scratch/acid test it, you can buy kits that will walk you through the steps but in saying that heavily plated chains/bracelets can pass both tests and wound need to be looked at or cut to see, when it comes to stones diamonds, rubys etc we use a little tell tale probe to check them
but examples of some marking to help identify "plated" jewellery
1/5th- 9ct
gold filled GF
9ct lined(also shown as) LD, LND
HGP (heavy gold plating)
HGE (heavy gold electroplating)

Generally solid gold will not wear, fade or change colour, but plated will

Ok mate thanks for the info, I have a magnet I will carry on my searches and hopefully I find something interesting to check
Also mate any ideas on how to check if a sapphire is real etc, I found I gold ring very deep in the ground and by the colour of it, its been there a while, but not sure if the sapphire is real? here is a pic of the ring in another post
https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=5622