subject: Learn How To Test Your Precious Metal [print this page] If you buy jewelry or make jewelry, you are uncomfortably aware of the soaring prices of precious metals.
As of this writing, gold is up over $1600 and Thomson Reuters released a report this week suggesting sterling silver will top $40 per ounce this year.
With prices for precious metals at this level, its no surprise that were seeing increasing numbers of dealers attempting to deceive purchasers about the content of the gold or sterling silver in finished goods. And, if youve decided to take advantage of the high prices for gold by selling your scrap gold, you need to know what you have.
If youve been in the jewelry market, either as a buyer or seller, youve undoubtedly heard about metal assays, that is, tests for determining the type of metal in a finished piece. However, you may not have thought it necessary or important to learn about these tests for yourself.
With prices at the levels they are now, you need to learn. And, fortunately for all of us, these tests are relatively simple to understand and to perform.
The purpose of this article isnt to describe every assay test in detail. It is rather to provide you with an overview of how to approach learning about doing it and what equipment youll need.
First, its important to determine whether the item is marked with a hallmark. These are symbols attesting to the purity or fineness of a metal and they are stamped directly upon the piece of jewelry, usually in an inconspicuous place. For gold, youll see 14K, 18K, etc., and for silver youll see STERLING, 925 and 925/1000. If you are not familiar with hallmarking, read up on it. It is not complicated, but it is important to understand.
Hallmarks can be tiny. To better see them, consider buying a 10X jewelers loupe. These loupes are inexpensive and can last forever, provided the lens isnt scratched. Buy the 10X loupe, meaning a magnification of ten times. This is the standard used in the industry even for grading gemstones.
Next, you will need a powerful magnet. The ones used in the jewelry trade are rare earth or Neodymium magnets and they, too, are very inexpensive and like jewelers loupes should be available from any jewelry supply company.
Run the magnet over the metal. If it is attracted to the magnet it means the metal contains little or no precious metal. If you are considering selling gold, you should know that refining houses will not accept metal that fails this test.
Although the magnetic test is useful for elimination purposes, it doesnt provide you with the whole story. Thats because plated and gold filled metal is NOT attracted to the magnet.
To explore further, youll need to conduct an acid test. Dont stop reading here. Acid tests are not hard and although they require a little care, theyre not dangerous.
In general, acid tests are performed by dropping a tiny amount of acid on the metal and watching the reaction of the metal to the acid. Different reactions will tell you what the metal is and youll receive detailed information on what those reactions are in any assay kit.
The problem with acid tests is that in order to be thorough, you need to test beyond the surface of the metal. A good gold plated metal, for example, will read as 14K gold.
This means that you should file the metal below the surface and drop the acid in that filed area. The problem, of course, is that the filing will damage the surface of the metal. Sometimes a jeweler can polish out the scratches, but sometimes it will not be possible.
In todays high priced environment, knowing how to test metal can be important for protecting yourself against fraud.
