From years gold is considered as a precious metal and a form of investment option. As a part of gold
investment, for investors it is common to buy physical form of gold such as gold jewelry, gold coins, bars and ingots. Whatever you buy, it is good idea to ensure whether the gold is genuine or not by following some simple steps as spurious gold is not going to fetch you any profit or is merely a futile investment. If you ever browse website about gold investment, the gold basics can be known, which will help you in buying real gold.
Check for the marking
In general, the basic step is to look for the karat marking on the back of gold jewelry. Every gold item usually has a marking, which shows its karats such as 10k, 18k, 22k or 24k etc. However, sometimes you may have group of numbers along with karats. For instance, if you see 10k 417 marking on the back of gold ornament, it indicates that the gold purity is 41.7 percent. Similarly 14k 587 indicates the gold is 58.5 percent pure. But these markings can also be seen on fakes, so it is good idea to do few more tests for identifying a real one. Markings such as HE, GE, RGP, GB, GP, 1/20 and 1/40 can also be seen on some gold jewelry, which are used for gold plated jewelry, meaning items that has slight layer of real gold on some other metals. So, if you find one of these markings it shows that the jewelry is not real gold.
Perform magnetic test
Not all metals have tendency to attract to magnets so much so as gold. Reason being that gold is not a magnet and hence it repels when you put a magnet on it. However, this is true only if the gold item is genuine and doesn't have any clasps attached. The clasps are made from different metals, so if you touch the gold item with magnet it will stick for sure. Verify by excluding it and if still the gold piece sticks then it can be concluded as a counterfeit. Further, note that some non-magnetic metals can also be used in making counterfeit pieces. As an investor you may be wondering what to do further to tell if it is real?
Use file test
If you are permitted to do this test, just file the gold item. To do it use a file and make a fine groove into the piece of gold. In case, you observe some other color of metal coming from it then the item can be considered as fake one.
Visual inspection
Though all these methods are basics for testing whether a gold piece is genuine or not, they still help a lot in identifying good and bad fakes. Another simple method is to visually check the color of gold piece, and if you observer some green color on it then chances of it being fake are high. Finally, check out Sunshine Profits gold stock ranking and SP gold investment website for new techniques.
Check for the marking
In general, the basic step is to look for the karat marking on the back of gold jewelry. Every gold item usually has a marking, which shows its karats such as 10k, 18k, 22k or 24k etc. However, sometimes you may have group of numbers along with karats. For instance, if you see 10k 417 marking on the back of gold ornament, it indicates that the gold purity is 41.7 percent. Similarly 14k 587 indicates the gold is 58.5 percent pure. But these markings can also be seen on fakes, so it is good idea to do few more tests for identifying a real one. Markings such as HE, GE, RGP, GB, GP, 1/20 and 1/40 can also be seen on some gold jewelry, which are used for gold plated jewelry, meaning items that has slight layer of real gold on some other metals. So, if you find one of these markings it shows that the jewelry is not real gold. Perform magnetic test
Not all metals have tendency to attract to magnets so much so as gold. Reason being that gold is not a magnet and hence it repels when you put a magnet on it. However, this is true only if the gold item is genuine and doesn't have any clasps attached. The clasps are made from different metals, so if you touch the gold item with magnet it will stick for sure. Verify by excluding it and if still the gold piece sticks then it can be concluded as a counterfeit. Further, note that some non-magnetic metals can also be used in making counterfeit pieces. As an investor you may be wondering what to do further to tell if it is real?
Use file test
Visual inspection
Though all these methods are basics for testing whether a gold piece is genuine or not, they still help a lot in identifying good and bad fakes. Another simple method is to visually check the color of gold piece, and if you observer some green color on it then chances of it being fake are high. Finally, check out Sunshine Profits gold stock ranking and SP gold investment website for new techniques.
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