Many of us have seen old movies and TV shows where a character tries to determine whether a coin is gold by biting it. While there may actually have been a time when this was a useful means of testing gold, it is probably not something that you would want to try today, whether you are in a thrift shop looking to make a purchase or checking out jewellery at home. So how do you know if gold is real or fake?
The term “karat” has been used for centuries to as a unit of gold purity. Gold karat is not the same as “carat” which is a measurement of diamond weight. Normally we see 10k, 14k, or 18k jewelry, and naturally the higher you go the more pure the gold is. But what does gold karat really mean?
Let’s start with 24k gold, which is pure, 100%, real mccoy gold. From now on, think of every piece of gold as having a purity that ranges between 0 and 24. So, if we have a 10k piece of gold, that means 10 parts of 24 is gold, and the other 14 are other alloys. This equates to 41.67% gold and 58.33% of other alloys. Here is a chart that lists out the other purities.
What other alloys are being used to make up the rest of your jewelry? There are an array of alloys that are typically used, such as silver, copper, nickel, zinc, or palladium. Some metals are chosen over others to alter the color. For example, “rose” gold has parts of copper to give that reddish color, and white gold is mixed with a white metal like silver, nickel, or palladium. Obviously the higher the Karat the higher the price of gold you can ask for.
One of the questions you are probably asking yourself when you’re thinking of selling old gold jewelry is “how do you test it?” All precious-metal buyers will go through similar methods to determine the purity of your jewelry, coins, bullion, etc. When it comes to testing gold, it’s not hard science, just useful equipment and a good eye.