Buying gold can be a great long-term investment, as long as you are buying real gold. Gold is a precious commodity, and for that reason it is frequently faked. The best way to determine whether your gold jewelry is fake, is to go to a jewelry store and try it on, however, this could cost you some money. Before heading out to purchase gold, you can read about a few simple ways to tell if gold jewelry is real.
- Magnet
- Jewellery cleaning cloth
- Silver cleaning solution or bleach
- Face powders
- Powder brush
The first way to tell if gold jewelry is real or not is to place a magnet next to the piece of gold. Real gold is not attracted to magnets, however, fake gold or gold-plated metals are.
Rub the gold with a jewelry cleaning cloth. If the gold is fake, a few rubs with the cloth will be enough to remove some of the gold. You can also do this with a white plate.
Place the gold in a silver cleaning solution. After a day, real gold does not rust, however, gold plated metals will.
Another more drastic method that involves chemicals is using bleach. Use rubber gloves to handle everything. Pour a drop of bleach on the ring. If it's fake, bleach can destroy the ring whereas it won't have any effect if it's real.
This is not a recommended method if you want to keep and wear the jewelry no matter if it's real or fake, as this will damage your jewel if it's a fake.
Rub face powder on the gold jewelry with a powder brush. Rub the powdered gold on your skin. If it makes a black mark, you've got real gold on your hands.
Pieces of gold jewelry all have to be marked to indicate their realness. Get a magnifying glass and search for a mark o your jewel, which should indicate the amount of Karats that your gold jewel has.
If you have a piece of jewelry that is older, it may not have this mark.
Have you ever seen the iconic image of people biting a golden ring to make sure it's real gold? This is because, when bitten with slight pressure, fake gold jewelry will have dents or markings, whereas real gold will not.
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- Your best bet if you want to rest assured if a gold jewel is real or not is to take it to a professional, especially if you don't want to damage it.