Featured Testing Gold

I ran into an odd situation. I have tons of jewelry inherited or gifted to me. I had decided to sell starting with plain gold chains. I was at a jewelers who does buy, and a customer in front of me said be careful they will tell you it is not gold, when it is. I was recommended to this store by someone, so I left and called her. She advised me to test all of my gold/silver prior to selling it. With that being said, does anyone recommend using the chemicals over purchasing the electronic device? TIA.

 

DONT sell to the first person that offers. Get at least 2-3 quotes. The guy I deal with has been in business for decades,and hes always fair to me. I weigh what Im wanting to sell,the compare the sell price for that day so it gives me an idea what i might get. Bear in mind that most buyers offer at least 30-50% of what the going rate is.They have to make money too.

 

You can get an efficient acid gold test kit for cheap, I doubt an affordable electronic device would be trusted...
The test has to be a firm scratch on the testing plate and the acid drop only on the trace left.
Any person advising to file the piece and apply the acid directly on it is my personal enemy

 

Thank you. I have not sold anything yet. For a scale, to weigh I have a scale I use for baking that does all of the metric or would it be wise to purchase one? I hadn’t thought to try a few so thank you! Great advice.

 

I hadn’t looked until today and wow! So thank you. I have never used the chemicals, will I need to wear gloves? I normally don’t use chemicals in my house will I have any concerns with the odors? Are the ones from Amazon safe to order? Is one brand better than another? Thank you both. Knowledge is power.

 

The weight for precious metals is different from metric and most other household type measurements. Search the web for gold weight scales.

 

No need for gloves, you only use one drop at a time,straight from the bottle on the testing stone.
The bottles of acid are small, and you get a set for different karatages/finenesses.

As kyra said, you rub the gold on the testing stone. It leaves a stripe.
Next you take a bottle of testing acid, and place one drop on the stripe. If the gold stripe dissolves under the drop of acid, try the acid for a lower karatage.
When the stripe stays as it is in spite of the acid, it is at least the right fineness, maybe higher. That is why you have different bottles, to see which one comes closest.

 

I have a postal scale with grams and that works for me since the online gold calculators offer grams as one of the weight options.

I think you meant "If the gold stripe dissolves under the drop of acid, try the acid for a lower karatage."? In other words, if the scraping dissolves using the 14k acid, try the 10k acid.

 

Of course! I'll change it, to avoid confusion. Thanks.

 

Thank you to everyone, i come here first to ask questions because I am always impressed with all of you & the knowledge that all of you share is simply amazing and I am so grateful to all of you. So I am ordering a scale, the chemicals & stone thing. I may have more questions when it arrives.

 

Thank you!

 

They are selling for SCRAP
A surface scratch on a stone is worthless

 

Ok, now I am confused?

 

Is there a good/totally reliable 'Precious Metals' testing
kit online ? A boxed set of acids that'll test gold,silver,platinum,etc ? Gotta get the rear in gear & test.

 

That makes sense. Any magnet?

 

You want a good one
Look for N35 or higher
There are a lot of these used on cheap crap at the Dollar Store now

 

So N35 or higher. I will check harbor freight or an Amazon ? Thank you.

 

I don't understand... why would a dealer do this? They're buying for scrap... if it's NOT gold, they therefore wouldn't even offer to buy it. My dealer just hands non-gold stuff right back to me.
I can see how an unscrupulous dealer could claim an item is a lower carat than it actually is... and therefore offer the seller a lower price. Or that the item weighs less than it actually does. My dealer tests and weighs right in front of me. (Though, again, an unscrupulous dealer could switch out the labels on the test acids, or adjust his scale to read less than actual weight.)
As for scratch testing items at home, it can be deceiving. Are your acids "fresh"? If not, you can get bad results. And then there's the confusion of testing gold-filled items...
I guess I'm lucky that I had a dealer that appears to be honest/fair recommended to me.

 

As a beginner you’re just as likely to confuse yourself as you are to get an accurate determination. Gotta start somewhere though, practice makes…adequate.