Identifying Genuine Gold Necklace Jewellery
To determine if your gold necklace jewellery is genuine or not, you don't have to go to a jeweler. A magnifying glass or jeweler's loupe is all you need to examine your gold necklace jewellery. In buying any jewelry, it is always important to know if it is fake or not. So here are a few tips you can follow to determine if a piece of jewelry is genuine or not:
1. Gather the gold necklace jewellery that you want to identify whether they are fake gold or not. Prepare a magnifying glass or a jeweler's loupe and examine each necklace closely.
2. Locate the karat markings on your gold necklace jewellery. Necklaces made out of gold have markings that represent purity. These are called karat markings. Read the markings. Here are the karat markings that indicate the purity of your gold necklace jewellery:
24K: Pure gold 18K: About 75% gold 14K: About 59% gold 10K: About 42% gold
3. Find a well lit area and look over your gold necklace jewellery near the clasp and look for a small metal tag. Using a magnifying glass or loupe, look at both sides of the tag carefully. The tag will either be oval or rectangular and have the same gold color as the necklace chain and clasp. It will have the gold's karat marking and the mark may be 10K, 14K, 18K, 24K or a decimal like .750 indicating 75% or 18K.
4. If you find EP or GP on the tag, it means the necklace is plated and not solid gold. In other words, your necklace jewellery is merely metal plated with gold to reduce cost.
5. If you cannot find any markings on your gold necklace jewellery, another way of telling if a necklace is fake gold or not is to see if the gold tarnishes. Look to see if the necklace has tarnished. If the gold appears dull and silver in color then it means that it has tarnished and is fake. Plated gold necklaces can chip or flake and real gold does not tarnish. They can however, tarnish with time.
6. The last step to determine if your necklace is fake, if you still want to make sure, is to take it to a jeweler. The jeweler can do an acid test to determine the gold content.
1. Gather the gold necklace jewellery that you want to identify whether they are fake gold or not. Prepare a magnifying glass or a jeweler's loupe and examine each necklace closely.
2. Locate the karat markings on your gold necklace jewellery. Necklaces made out of gold have markings that represent purity. These are called karat markings. Read the markings. Here are the karat markings that indicate the purity of your gold necklace jewellery:
24K: Pure gold 18K: About 75% gold 14K: About 59% gold 10K: About 42% gold
3. Find a well lit area and look over your gold necklace jewellery near the clasp and look for a small metal tag. Using a magnifying glass or loupe, look at both sides of the tag carefully. The tag will either be oval or rectangular and have the same gold color as the necklace chain and clasp. It will have the gold's karat marking and the mark may be 10K, 14K, 18K, 24K or a decimal like .750 indicating 75% or 18K.
4. If you find EP or GP on the tag, it means the necklace is plated and not solid gold. In other words, your necklace jewellery is merely metal plated with gold to reduce cost.
5. If you cannot find any markings on your gold necklace jewellery, another way of telling if a necklace is fake gold or not is to see if the gold tarnishes. Look to see if the necklace has tarnished. If the gold appears dull and silver in color then it means that it has tarnished and is fake. Plated gold necklaces can chip or flake and real gold does not tarnish. They can however, tarnish with time.
6. The last step to determine if your necklace is fake, if you still want to make sure, is to take it to a jeweler. The jeweler can do an acid test to determine the gold content.
