What percentage of unmarked gold jewelry contains gold?

In your experience, what percentage of unmarked gold jewelry contains real gold in some level?

 

Unmarked GOLD is... gold If the piece is any gilt metal it is... METAL even if falsely marked

Now, if your question is about what percentage of real gold jewellery is marked... It depends!
Mainly if antique, not all pieces were marked... Some countries didn't/don't have a mandatory assay...

 

You don't want to bother with unmarked gold, send it all to me and I'll get rid of it for you for free.

 

If you are thinking of melting antique jewelry for the gold content. If the pieces are in good wearable condition, more often than not there is more value in the antique design than the gold.

And if you have to be the idiot to test it by scratching it, at least do it where it can't be seen.

 

I agree with all the posts so far. I am just wondering if anyone has experience in looking at a lot of jewelry and eventually knowing from experience a percentage. Just a topic. I'm not looking to create a declaration and get 40 signatures or anything =)

 

In recent times almost none except for some artisan pieces. Prior to 1900 maybe up to 25%.

 

Before the 19th C, almost no gold jewellery was marked in the UK, despite our assay laws. Once you get to the late 1800s, more marsk, not always full hallmarks, are seen. From the 1920s, it's the majority.

 

Agree, gold is gold by definition. The fineness can vary, which means the actual gold content can vary.
Then there is the legal definition, some countries accept 9k as gold, many countries don't accept anything below 14k or 18k as gold.

If you want to be able to tell the fineness by looking at a gold item, good luck.
The look of a gold item depends on which other metals were mixed in with the gold, which is different according to fashion, country, period, etc. For instance, if you have experience with ca 1840-60 18k Dutch gold, you may be able to hazard a guess. Lucky thing is, it would be marked.

And if it isn't gold, it simply isn't gold. It could be plated etc or simply goldtone base metal, but never gold.

 

just by looking..........???

Only in some instances ...with experience ....and knowing how things are made...


I can tell........that this is most likely 18K...



and that this smaller bracelet is going to be 14K....

but, just by looking at this....



how can anyone tell.............

BTW....they say this is 316 stainless steel.............!!!