Today I’m going to tell you How to check gold purity at home. Let’s get into it.
Table of Contents
Visually Inspection
The first step to determine the carrot of your gold is to inspect the item visually.
Look for hallmarks on the clasp of your necklaces or bracelets. inside the rings or on the back of pendants and brooches you can even find hallmarks on the post of your earrings.
You may even need a magnifying glass or a loop to see them clearly.
Look for stamps that say 10k, 14k, or 18k
Gold Karat
| COMMON KARATS | UNCOMMON KARATS |
| 10K, 14K, 18K | 8K, 9K, 16K, 22K |
These are the most common purities of gold but it is possible for gold jewelry to be 8 carat 16 carat or even 22 karat.
Some jewelry may even have purity stamped on it.
Like 416 would be 10 karat, 585 would be 14 karat and 750 would be 18 karat.
If your jewelry is marked 12 karat there is a high probability it is only gold plated.
Also, keep an eye out for letters after the carrot stamp.
Carrot Stamps
| GP | Gold Plate |
| GF | Gold filled |
| GE | Gold Electroplate |
| HGE | Heavy Gold Electroplate |
| GR | Gold Rolled |
| 12K | Usually Gold Plate |
But f it is marked 14KP that actually stands for carrot plum which means it is exactly the carrot or purity that it claims to be.
Gold-plated items only have a thin layer of gold over non-precious metal this may also be determined by any fractions you may see stamped into your jewelry such as 1 10th or 1 20th which describes how much of the weight of the item is actually gold weight.
This is not definitive though as some items that are gold may not have a stamp or they could have been worn off through wear or repair conversely many items could be stamped with a corrot but are in fact fake gold.
How to check gold purity at home With Gold Testing Kit
You can easily get a Gold testing kit or assay kit by clicking on the picture below.
The gold testing kit gives you the ability to more accurately determine the purity of your gold. Testing Kits are well worth the investment. Especially if you have a lot of gold to sell and you don’t want to get taken advantage of
Most kits come with acid solutions to test for 10k, 14k, and 18k and more kits have 22 carats silver and platinum solutions. Purchase a kit that comes with a touchstone also known as the testing stones.
Take the item and rub it on the touchstone so it leaves a nice thick mark then apply the 10k 14k and 18k to different parts of the mark left on the stone. Be careful not to mix the acids as that will throw off your results.
The acid will eat through the mark of the carrot it does not. so if dissolves 18 karat and 14 karat but 10 karat is clearly visible then the gold is most likely 10k. if 10k and 14k hold on under the acid but 18 karat dissolves them your item is 14k gold.
This works no matter if the gold is yellow, white, or rose gold. but if the mark dissolves under 10k and 14k but 18k does not dissolve and turns a bright white silverish color then the item is sterling silver.
This gives you a good estimate of the purity of your gold. but it is not definitive most gold jewelry is under carrot so if your piece is stamped and assays as 10k that implies that 41.6 of the weight of the item is pure gold and the rest is other metals.
You divide 10 by 24 to get the percentage of purity.
A piece that is marked and tested 18k implies that 75% of the weight of that item is pure gold and the other 25% is other metals or alloys.
The reality is that most 10 karat is really more like 9 karat and 14 karat is around 12 and a half to 13 karats. But there is a way for you to determine precisely the purity of your gold.
Conclusion
Now you have a very good idea of what karat is and how to check gold purity at home. You can bring it to a gold buyer jewelry store or even a pawn shop anywhere that advertises they buy gold. They will be able to more accurately determine the purity of the gold based on their years of experience. Some even have XRF analyzers that determine the alloy chemistry and care classification very accurately. As well as test your jewelry to make sure that it is not gold plated and is in fact solid gold.
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