When you’re shopping for jewelry, it’s important to be able to tell the difference between the real and the fake.
Unfortunately, there are many replicas on the market that can fool unsuspecting buyers.
You would think that sellers would not want to risk dealing with the fallout from selling fake jewelry, but they often use weasel words in the description so that an unsuspecting person would think that it is real.
Using a play in words that they can hide behind will result in them being able to escape consequences once a customer realizes that they have been duped.
Shopping for jewelry, however, is not the only time that you need to know the difference between an item being real or fake.
When Living Trusts or Estates are being settled, when Marital Settlement Agreements are being hammered out during a divorce, and even when you need to find out if the brooch that grandma left for you is real or not, so you can let your child play with it, those are also times when you need to know for sure if what you have is real.
In this blog post, we’ll discuss three ways to know if your jewelry is the real deal and where to go if you get stumped.
Table of Contents
What Is Considered Fake Jewelry?
Fake jewelry is a costume replication of the real thing, and is also anything that is marketed or stated to be real, when in fact, it is not.
It is fine to sell costume or fake jewelry as long as the potential buyer is aware of that fact, but this is not always what we are talking about.
We are also talking about deception in marketing tactics.
Fraud.
Stealing.
This does not necessarily have to be a retail marketing problem.
It can also be an issue where it is important to find out the value of an item because someone may be deliberately trying to pull the wool over your eyes by concealing the true value of it, rather than by simply using a sales pitch to suck you in.
If grandma left you a brooch that is being passed off by a relative, or unscrupulous jewelry store, as sterling silver with CZ’s, but it is in fact platinum with 7 carats of VS1 diamonds, then that is deception and can lead to a fraudulent transaction based on the untruth you were led to believe.
One is worth $100 since it is an antique, the other is worth $26,000.
Big difference.
Who knows how many people were duped because they trusted the wrong person to figure out the value of an item for them?
So let’s give you some ways to protect yourself.
How To Know Your Jewelry Is Real
There are a few different ways to know for sure if gold, silver or platinum is real. Here are a few of them:
Hallmark
Does the item have marks on it to indicate what the metal is made from?
Metal used in the manufacturing of jewelry must be hallmarked if it is real gold, silver, or platinum if it is going to be sold as such.
It should be stamped, (not scratched) somewhere on a place that can be seen.
Examples will be “14K” or “585” to denote that purity of gold, “18K” or “750” to denote being a higher purity of gold, and so on. If you see a mark on your jewelry, you will need to be familiar with what they mean.
Some marks are not hallmarks, but are instead just the name, initials or number of the designer.
You should not buy anything, nor sell anything, until you have verified what the marks on the piece of jewelry mean.
Magnet Test
Because you cannot just look at or touch an item to be certain if it is real, get a magnet.
Touch the item with the magnet and see if it sticks or not.
Real gold and silver will not stick.
Be careful if it is a chain or bracelet to not put the magnet onto any part of the clasp, because those will have a spring mechanism made of steel and that part will stick.
This test will only work to immediately let you know if something is fake, that is, if it sticks then you can know that it cannot be gold, silver or platinum.
Keep in mind that this is not foolproof, because there are several other metals that also will not stick besides gold or silver, such as:
- Aluminum
- copper
- lead
- tin
- titanium
- zinc
- brass and bronze
These metals also will not stick to a magnet.
It is becoming increasingly more difficult to know exactly which types of metal that fake jewelry is being made from, but at least using a magnet will let you know straight off the bat if you have one of them if it is made from something other than these listed nonmagnetic metals.
Once you have used the magnet, and even if the item did not stick, you still cannot assume that you have the real deal yet.
Move on to the next test because you are not quite finished with testing yet.
Acid Test
You will not be able to do this test yourself because you must have acid to do it with, and it must be a specific type of acid not available to the general public.
However, there are some acid “kits” available on Amazon.
What to do then?
Take your item to a trusted jewelry store or even a pawn shop.
If you take it to a pawn shop, you will know for certain if it is real or not because they will use acid to test if the hallmarks are not on it.
A pawn store will simply not do business if a piece of jewelry is not the real deal.
Neither will a jewelry store.
Both of these stores will have testing acid and both will be happy to test your items for you. Acid tests come in 10K, 14K, 18K, 22K and platinum. 14K can be used to test sterling silver for positive results.
If an item is sterling silver, the acid will turn the spot it was dropped on a powdery white color. If the item is not real sterling silver, it will turn black or even bubble green.
You should go on Youtube to see people demonstrating acid testing on jewelry so that you can get an idea of what the results should look like if it is positive or negative.
But one thing for certain is that regardless of whether or not you understand acid testing, the pawn or jewelry shop does and they will not want to buy an item if it is fake and will tell you so.
How To Tell The Difference Between Real And Fake Jewelry
Now that you know how to test if your jewelry is real, it will be difficult for anyone to try and sell you fake jewelry as the real deal.
There are several things to look at when trying to determine if something is fake or not:
Inspect The Markings & Jump Rings
Fake jewelry, or costume jewelry, will not have a hallmark indicating type and purity of metal.
It will usually stick to a magnet, but even if not, when tested with acid, it will smoke and bubble green and turn black where the acid was dropped.
Further, fake jewelry does not usually have soldering on the jump rings to keep them from coming apart.
Yet there is fake jewelry that does have fake hallmarks, and therefore, all three tests are important to do on the metal.
Here is another tell tale signs that jewelry is not real:
Inspect The Gemstones
Gemstones in fake jewelry are usually are plastic, simulated, or made of glass.
Can’t tell?
Then again, take it to a jewelry store or to a pawn shop.
Even if you have a large pile of jewelry, they will sort through it with you and in front of you to show you which pieces are real and why, and which are not, and why also. After a while, you can become familiar with how to do this for yourself.
FAQ’s About Fake Jewelry
How do I know if my jewelry is valuable?
You can know the value of your jewelry by attempting to determine if it is real first. If after you determine that it may be real, then take it to the jewelry store or pawn shop for verification. You will be told even if the gemstones are real or are fake too.
Can you use any magnet to test jewelry?
You can use pretty much any high strength magnet to test jewelry. Your local hardware store should have one and they are not expensive at all. Rare earth magnets are usually the choice for professionals, because they are so strong and last a long time.
Is 18K gold real?
18K gold is real, just as 14K gold is, or just as 10K gold is. When an item is hallmarked as 18K, it means that the purity is 75% pure gold.
Is rose gold real gold?
Rose gold is real gold, but the color may confuse some people. Rose gold has been around for centuries and it gets the pinkish color much the same way that green gold gets its color tone.
Rose, green and white gold have alloys added to them to make the desired color of gold. Yes, rose gold is real, but should have a hallmark to indicate that fact or should be tested with acid if there is no hallmark.
What is the name for fake gold?
The name for fake gold is “Fools Gold”. There are three common minerals that are often mistaken for being gold, but are not. These are weathered mica, chalcopyrite, and pyrite.
Can you stamp fake gold?
Fake gold can be stamped, but the stamp needs to denote what the item actually is. An example is “GF” means “gold filled.”
This actually has a very small percentage of real gold and therefore can be stamped legally.
Another example is “GP” which means an item is gold plated with a thin layer of gold.
This is legal too.
Another example: “HGE” means heavy gold electroplated.
If a fake gold piece is stamped as being real gold, it is counterfeit and illegal. And counterfeits are as plentiful as gnats in the eye.
Final Thoughts
Because there are so many ways to make mistakes when trying to determine if a piece of jewelry that you have obtained is real or not, it is strongly advised that you take your items in to a trusted jewelry store or pawn shop that deals with precious metals, diamonds, and gemstones to help you to make sure that your know what you have.