There are obviously two ways that you can test gold to determine if it is real, and the karat weight (pureness).
Take your gold to someone who buys gold, such as a jewelry store or pawn broker. We suggest that you do some shopping around to find someone reputable. If you are a first time seller, we suggest that you read this special gold report, first.
Test your gold, yourself, which is the purpose of this article. By following the steps below, you should be able to test your gold safely and accurately. These are some of the most common ways to test gold.
Things you will need to test gold at home:
Magnet Piece of glass Piece of unglazed porcelain A testing kit containing Nitric acid. Rubber gloves Protective eye wear
1. Apply a magnet to the gold item:
Just because a piece of jewelry looks like it's gold, that doesn't mean that it is. Perhaps the easiest way to weed-out non-gold jewelry is to hold a magnet near the piece of gold. If the magnet attracts the gold piece, then there are other metals mixed in the gold, mainly iron. This is obviously not gold. The only three metals that are attracted to a magnet are iron, cobalt and nickel.
2. See if your gold will scratch glass:
Try scratching glass with the piece of gold. If it scratches the glass, it is definitely not gold, or it is mixed with other metals and the purity is very low.
3. Acid test:
Assuming your gold has passed the scratch test, it's time to get down to business. In this second test, you will need to rub the piece of jewelry across a piece of unglazed porcelain tile, which you should be able to get at Home Depot or a hardware store. As you rub the item across the tile, it should leave a yellow streak. It is this yellow streak that we will be further testing.
Note: If your item leaves a black streak, it is pyrite (fools gold). If the streak is golden yellow, then it is gold. Assuming it is gold, we can now try and determine how pure it is.
We suggest purchasing a gold testing kit, versus messing with either sulfuric or hydrochloric acid. These are powerful, nasty acids that can hurt you. Purchase a gold testing kit, which contains several strengths of Nitric acid. Sulfuric and hydrochloric acids will flat out burn you. Stay clear of them.
To locate a gold testing kit, look online, or contact either a neighborhood coin store, an antique dealer, a pawn shop or a jeweler. These resources can help you locate a test kit, or they may be able to test the gold for you for a fee.
If you don't wear rubber gloves, your hands will become strained by the Nitric acid in the test kit. Most of the gold buyers do this everyday, and probably don't wear gloves. You should, it just makes sense.
The gold testing kit is designed so that you can place a small drop of acid on the yellow streak you just created on the unglazed porcelain. Jewelers use a special stone to scrap the jewelry on. Apply a small drop to one end of the streak, not the whole thing. If the gold begins to dissolve, then there is some other type of metal mixed with the gold and it is not pure.
