How do I know if my gold jewelry is real gold or not? Is there any test I can do by myself?

While the previous responses are all great ways to find out if your gold jewelry is real gold, I would still just go to a trusted jeweler. I would hate to find out my gold is real after I've bitten into it and left marks. 

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A simple test you could carry out at home in order to check whether the piece of gold jewelry you own is real or not, is to do a density check. Note that this type of test could only be done on gold jewelry that does not contain any mounted gemstones, such as diamonds. What you do is take a measurement cylinder and fill it all the way to the top with water – make sure to write down the exact milliliter quantity you begin with. Then insert your piece of gold jewelry into the measurement cylinder, allowing the excess water to spill out from the cylinder. Once you remove your gold jewelry from the cylinder, write down the new amount of milliliters of water now present. When you subtract between the initial value and the new value, you will actually be left with the volume milliliter value of your gold jewelry. For example, if you began your experiment with 40mL of water, and ended with 38mL of water, it means that the 2mL of water lost during the experiment accounts for your jewelry's volume. Now all that is left for you to do is measure the gram mass of your piece of jewelry by simply placing it on a digital scale. With the help of the density formula, divide the mass of your gold jewelry by the volume you just calculated. This should give you a rough indication of the density of your piece of jewelry. If the density is about 19.3 grams per milliliter, then you could be sure that your gold is real, as most metal density is much lower. In fact there are only four types of metals with a density measurement higher than gold, at approximately at 20 grams per milliliter, and they are: platinum, iridium, osmium and neptunium. You should be aware of the fact that there are some exceptions to be aware of when executing the density check. In some cases, jewelers often design chunkier pieces of gold jewelry in hollow segments, and therefore the trapped air could invalidate the accuracy of the density test. In this case, even if the piece of jewelry is genuinely gold, the density test would most probably prove otherwise. However, in most cases this test proved to be an easy and effective way of finding out whether your gold is genuine or not.

To learn more about gold jewelry and how you can check the authenticity of your pieces go to http://www.zoara.com/jewelry/metals

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The best way to find out whether or not your jewelry is real or not is to use a magnet. If the piece of jewelry does attract the magnet, you can be sure that it is not gold. If the piece of jewelry only slightly attracts the magnet, it could be plated gold or gold mixed with alloys. One thing is for sure, if the piece of jewelry in question is pure gold, there is no way it will attract the magnet. If the magnet test is inconclusive, the next test you should try is an acid test. You can purchase this type of kit for about twenty to thirty bucks on the internet. These kits are actually pretty easy to use. Each kit should have a testing stone, so just rub the piece of jewelry on the stone to polish it and trickle a bit of acid on the area you just rubbed against the stone. Nitric or hydrochloric acids will have no effect on the color of real gold, so if the piece of jewelry does not change color, you can be certain that it is real gold. In the case that the area you have polished turns a yellowish orange, then the piece of jewelry might still be gold, but it is definitely of a lower gold karat value. In cases where the area of jewelry that has been polished changes into a different color, then you'll know that it's definitely not gold jewelry.

Another way to find out whether a piece of jewelry is real gold or not is to bite it. Since gold is soft, it will leave a mark if you bite it, whereas fake gold will not. While real gold does not rust, no matter how humid the temperature, fake gold does tend to rust in humid climates. Skin discoloration or discoloration of the piece of jewelry is also a sign of fake gold. Furthermore, while real gold jewelry usually has one of the following markings denoting its karat value: 10 kt, 14 kt, 18 kt, 22 kt, 24 kt, 750, 916, fake jewelry will not necessarily have these marks. Gold plated jewelry will usually have the markings GP or EP next to the karat value. In addition, you can always take a market survey to find out the most up to date price of gold. If the piece of jewelry you purchased cost much less than it should according to your research, then there is a good chance that it is not real gold jewelry. Real gold jewelry is also not very shiny, so if the piece of jewelry in question is very shiny it probably is not real gold.

If all else fails and you’re still not sure whether your gold jewelry is genuine or not, I would suggest contacting your local jeweler or an online jewelry site carrying specialized gold jewelry like http://www.zoara.com

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