is there an easy way to tell if something is really gold?

[nageov3t]

my parents have been up at my grandmother's estate in NH all week with my dad's three bothers and sister, cleaning it out and going through everything since they're trying to sell the place (or at least rent it out, now that my grandmother's in a nursing home and no one's using the place). while there, my parents came across a ring that my dad had as a kid, which was originally his uncle's and was given to him by his aunt after the uncle died, which in turn my parents gave to me.

it's like a gold (maybe?) ring with a blue stone... I'm assuming it's fake, because that'd be a pretty big sapphire, but is there an easy way to check without actually taking it to a jeweler and getting laughed at?

there aren't any marks inside that I can make out, except an MML which I'm guessing is my great uncle's initials (maurice lacroix... no clue what his middle name was)

 

[silverpig]

Google "Archimedes" and "Eureka"

 

[ThePresence]

Do you think your parents would give it to youif it were real?

 

[Circlenaut]

Density (if you remove the stone) and if you have an accurate scale. Maybe resistivity if you have one of those... Or just enjoy it for what it is? Ohhh, see if it reacts with HCl or H2SO4.

 

[NikolaeVarius]

Wasn't there a house episode, where House using some chemical that turns purple in the presence of gold?

 

[SVT Cobra]

In the United States, anything that is not at least 10 karats (42 percent gold) cannot be legally sold as gold. Anything that you purchase that is real gold should have the karat amount stamped into the jewelry. On rings the stamp will be on the inside and on necklaces and bracelets the stamp will usually be somewhere on the clasp.

If the jewelry you are purchasing doesn?t have a stamp stating that it?s 10k, 14k, 18k, or 22k, chances are that it isn?t real gold.

If the jewelry is stamped and you still question whether or not it is real gold, you can take it to certain jewelers to find out whether or not it is real gold. A jeweler will be able to perform a chemical test or look at the piece under a jeweler?s loop to determine the quality of the piece.

If you?re thinking of purchasing a piece of gold jewelry and something is making you question whether or not it?s real, it?s probably best to pass and find another piece that you can feel confident about.

 

[SVT Cobra]

The lack of a hallmark (10k, 14k, 18k etc.) is not indicative of whether your piece is gold or not. In the United States it is against the FTC's regulations for the jeweler to hallmark a piece of jewelry unless it is accompanied by a maker's mark. So, when I first began making jewelry and did not have a trademark of my own, I did not hallmark my jewelry. Now that I have a maker's mark, I hallmark my jewelry with the appropriate metal hallmark and my maker's mark.

A jeweler cannot just look at a piece and tell you for certain whether it is gold or not; the jeweler will do a test to determine it.

To be scientfically accurate a sample of the metal in question must be assayed in a testing laboratory, but the following two tests have been used for many years and often are sufficiently accurate for a craftsperson or the owner of the metal in question.

To answer "Is It Gold?":

With a small file, make a scratch in an inconspicuous spot. While wearing rubber gloves, use a wooden, glass or plastic stick to apply a drop of nitric acid to the filed spot. Observe the reaction. When done, rinse everything well in running water.

If there is no reaction, it's gold.
If there's a bright green reaction, it's base metal.
If there's green in the scratch, it's a gold layer over base metal (goldplate).
If there's a milky reaction in the scratch, it's a gold layer over silver.

To answer "What Karat Is It?"

Determining karat requires a testing kit containing nitric acid, aqua regia, samples of known karat, and a touchstone of slate or ceramic.

The gold object to be tested is rubbed on the stone ("touched") to leave a streak. A parallel line is made with one of the test pieces of known karat. Both marks are flooded with acid and the reaction are observed. When the sample colors at the same rate as the test streak, a match has been made. Nitric acid is used for low karat golds; aqua regia is needed for higher karats.

Please note: these tests are for your information only. They are not accurate enough to rely upon when representing a piece for sale. Most jewelers have testing kits to use when determining if something is gold or not and its approximate karat. It is probably easiest to take the item to a jeweler than to set up the testing kits yourself.

 

[nageov3t]

Originally posted by: SVT Cobra
The lack of a hallmark (10k, 14k, 18k etc.) is not indicative of whether your piece is gold or not. In the United States it is against the FTC's regulations for the jeweler to hallmark a piece of jewelry unless it is accompanied by a maker's mark. So, when I first began making jewelry and did not have a trademark of my own, I did not hallmark my jewelry. Now that I have a maker's mark, I hallmark my jewelry with the appropriate metal hallmark and my maker's mark.

A jeweler cannot just look at a piece and tell you for certain whether it is gold or not; the jeweler will do a test to determine it.

To be scientfically accurate a sample of the metal in question must be assayed in a testing laboratory, but the following two tests have been used for many years and often are sufficiently accurate for a craftsperson or the owner of the metal in question.

To answer "Is It Gold?":

With a small file, make a scratch in an inconspicuous spot. While wearing rubber gloves, use a wooden, glass or plastic stick to apply a drop of nitric acid to the filed spot. Observe the reaction. When done, rinse everything well in running water.

If there is no reaction, it's gold.
If there's a bright green reaction, it's base metal.
If there's green in the scratch, it's a gold layer over base metal (goldplate).
If there's a milky reaction in the scratch, it's a gold layer over silver.

To answer "What Karat Is It?"

Determining karat requires a testing kit containing nitric acid, aqua regia, samples of known karat, and a touchstone of slate or ceramic.

The gold object to be tested is rubbed on the stone ("touched") to leave a streak. A parallel line is made with one of the test pieces of known karat. Both marks are flooded with acid and the reaction are observed. When the sample colors at the same rate as the test streak, a match has been made. Nitric acid is used for low karat golds; aqua regia is needed for higher karats.

Please note: these tests are for your information only. They are not accurate enough to rely upon when representing a piece for sale. Most jewelers have testing kits to use when determining if something is gold or not and its approximate karat. It is probably easiest to take the item to a jeweler than to set up the testing kits yourself.

thanks :thumbsup:

I'm not thinking about selling it, it's just idle curiosity mostly. there's a more than decent chance that the ring was from canada (quebec), since that's where my dad's family lived until the 1950's.

 

[NuclearNed]

Acid test. Of course, if it isn't gold, your ring will be worth much less once the test is over...