How to test gold a home 🏠 Real

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How do you tell if gold is real, gold plated, or fake? By most international standards, anything with less than 41.7% or 10 karats of gold is considered fake. To test your jewelry or gold at home, you can perform a few easy tests–mostly with items you already have, like water, vinegar, and magnets. You don't have to be a certified jeweler to get a good idea of whether or not your gold is real, and we'll give you step-by-step instructions to test your gold right now.

Put a few drops of vinegar on the gold. Set your jewelry or gold piece onto a flat surface. Use an eyedropper to apply a bit of vinegar and let it sit for about 15 minutes. Real gold won't change color, but fake gold will.[2]
You can also submerge the gold in a glass container with vinegar for 15 minutes. This is a slightly riskier method because vinegar might damage semi-precious stones on gold jewelry.

Find any noticeable discolorations where the gold has worn away. Gold is pretty soft for a metal, so plated gold often rubs away over time. The best places to check are around the edges of jewelry and coins. These spots often rub up against your skin and clothing throughout the day. If you see a different metal underneath the gold, you know your item is plated and not considered real gold.[3]
For example, a silver coloring might indicate silver or titanium. A red coloring could mean copper or brass.

Note any discolorations on your skin from wearing or holding the gold. Pure gold doesn't react with sweat or oil from your skin, so if you see black or green marks, they are from other metals. Silver leaves behind black marks and copper leaves behind green marks. If you see a lot of these marks on your skin, your gold may be less pure than you expect.[4]
Keep in mind that most gold items are blends of gold and other metals. Even something like a 14K piece of jewelry, 58.3% gold, can leave these marks. Use other tests as well to ensure your gold is authentic.

Hold a strong magnet up to see if the gold sticks to it. For this test, you need a strong magnet capable of pulling even metal blends. Move the magnet over the gold and observe how it reacts. Gold isn't magnetic, so don't be fooled by anything that sticks. If the magnet pulls the gold toward it, your item is either impure or a fake.[5]
Regular kitchen magnets might not be strong enough. For better accuracy, buy a powerful neodymium magnet from a home improvement store.
The magnet test isn't foolproof, since counterfeit gold can be made with non-magnetic metal like stainless steel. Also, some genuine gold items are made with magnetic metals such as iron.

Rub the gold on unglazed ceramic to see if it leaves a streak. Make sure you're using an unglazed piece of ceramic since anything with a glaze could affect the test results. Drag your item across the plate until you see some fragments coming off the gold. If you see a black streak, that means your gold is not real. A gold streak usually indicates authentic gold.[6]
Try getting an unglazed ceramic tile or a plate online or from your local home improvement store.
This test scratches the gold a little bit but doesn't typically leave much noticeable damage. It is much safer than other tests involving scratches or acid.
Another way to do this is by spreading some cosmetic foundation on your skin and dragging the gold across it after it dries. Fake gold usually reacts with the foundation, leaving a green or black streak in it.

Look for an official number marking how to teste gold a hom on the gold. The marking, or hallmark, tells you the percentage of gold in an item. The hallmark is often printed on jewelry clasps or the inner bands of rings. It is usually visible on the surface of coins and bullion. The stamp is a number from 1 to 999 or 0K to 24K depending on what kind of grading system was used.[7]
Use a magnifying glass to help you identify the hallmark. It can be tough to make out by eye, especially on smaller pieces of gold such as rings.
Older pieces of jewelry may not have visible hallmarks. Sometimes the hallmark wears off over time, while in other cases the jewelry never got a stamp. Hallmarking became common in the 1950s in some areas, but in India for instance, it only became mandatory in the year 2000.[8
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