How Do I Know If My Jewelry Is Real Gold? Tests, Hallmarks & What to Look For

Whether it is an inherited ring, a chain found in a drawer or a new piece you want to be sure of, the question is the same: is it really gold? Most of the time the answer is stamped right on the piece, if you know how to read it. This guide explains what the stamps mean, which home tests are worth trying, and how a jeweler confirms gold for certain.

How can you tell if jewelry is real gold?

The fastest way to tell if jewelry is real gold is to find its stamp. Solid gold jewelry is usually marked with its karat, such as 10K, 14K or 18K, or with the equivalent fineness number, 417, 585 or 750. Look inside a ring band, on the clasp or tag of a necklace or bracelet, and on the post or back of an earring. A magnifying glass or the zoom on a phone camera helps, because stamps are tiny.

A stamp is a strong first clue, not final proof. Stamps can wear away over decades, and counterfeit pieces sometimes carry false ones. If the stamp is missing, unclear or followed by extra letters, the at-home checks below narrow it down, and a jeweler can confirm it in minutes.

What do the stamps on gold jewelry mean?

In the United States, solid gold must be marked with its true karat if it is marked at all, and the word gold on its own legally means 24 karat. The most common stamps are 10K or 417 for 41.7% gold, 14K or 585 for 58.5%, 18K or 750 for 75%, and 22K or 916 for 91.6%. European pieces often use only the three-digit number. The guide to 14K vs 18K gold explains how those karats differ in wear and color.

Letters after the karat change the meaning completely. GP and GEP mean gold-plated or gold electroplate. HGE means heavy gold electroplate. RGP means rolled gold plate, and GF means gold-filled. All of these describe a layer of gold over another metal, so a ring stamped 14K GP is a plated ring, not a 14 karat one. A gold-colored piece stamped 925 is sterling silver underneath, either gold-plated or vermeil. The guide to gold-filled, gold-plated and vermeil explains each construction.

Under the National Gold and Silver Stamping Act, a piece stamped with its quality should also carry the maker's registered trademark. A lone 14K with no maker's mark is not proof of a fake, but it is a reason to look more closely.

What can you test at home?

The magnet test. Hold a strong magnet, such as a neodymium magnet, against the piece. Gold is not magnetic, so if the piece jumps to the magnet, the metal underneath is not gold. The test only rules things out: silver, copper, brass and many plated base metals are not magnetic either, so a piece that ignores the magnet still needs checking. Clasps and springs often contain steel, so test the main body of the piece.

Look for wear. Examine the edges, the inside of a ring band and the high points of a design under good light. On plated jewelry, the gold layer wears first in exactly these places, and a different color, usually silver-gray or coppery, shows through. Solid gold is the same color all the way through, however worn.

Check how it reacts with your skin. Real gold of 14K and above rarely discolors skin, while brass and copper under worn plating often leave a green mark. This is a clue, not a test: makeup can rub tiny particles off solid gold and leave a dark smudge, and sweat chemistry varies.

Some popular checks do more harm than good. Biting a piece proves nothing and dents soft metal. Dragging it across unglazed ceramic leaves a streak, gold-colored for gold and dark for many fakes, but it also scratches the jewelry. Vinegar and bleach tests are unreliable and bleach damages gold alloys. For anything you care about, a jeweler's test is safer.

How do jewelers test gold?

Most jewelers can test a piece in a few minutes, and many will do it free or for a small fee. The traditional method is the acid test. The jeweler rubs the piece on a dark touchstone to leave a thin streak, then applies acids calibrated to specific karats. Base metal and plating dissolve or change color; karat gold resists the acid up to its own purity, which reveals both whether it is gold and roughly what karat.

Electronic gold testers measure how the metal conducts electricity and give a quick reading without marking the piece. The most accurate non-destructive method is X-ray fluorescence, or XRF, which reads the exact percentages of gold, silver, copper and other metals in the surface in under a minute. Refiners and assay offices use fire assay, which melts a sample and gives the most precise result of all, but destroys the sample, so it is used for bullion rather than jewelry.

Testing also answers the question of karat. A piece stamped 18K that tests at 14K was misdescribed, which matters for value, color and wear.

What looks like gold but is not?

Several materials are made to look like gold. Gold-plated and gold electroplated jewelry has a microscopically thin layer of real gold over brass, copper or another base metal. Gold-filled has a much thicker bonded layer of karat gold, and vermeil is gold over sterling silver. These contain some gold but are not solid gold, and they are legally required to be described as what they are.

Then there are materials with no gold at all. Brass, a copper and zinc alloy, has a warm yellow color and is common in costume jewelry. Pieces sold as gold tone, gold color or gold finish carry no promise of gold content. These tend to tarnish, darken or turn skin green over time, which solid gold does not.

The same caution applies to stones set in gold. A real gold setting does not guarantee a real gemstone; the guide to telling whether a diamond is real covers the tests that work for diamonds.

How do you buy gold with confidence?

Buy from sellers who state the karat, the metal color and whether a piece is solid, hollow, plated or filled. US rules require gold content to be disclosed accurately, and a clear product description is the easiest way to know exactly what you are getting before it arrives. Check that the stamp on the piece matches the listing.

Look for a return policy that gives you time to have a piece tested if you want to, and keep your receipt and any certificate. For heirlooms or pieces with no stamp, an independent appraisal confirms metal and karat and gives a value for insurance. The complete guide to gold jewelry covers karat marks, colors and care, and the guide to cleaning gold jewelry keeps solid gold looking new.

"It is chemically unreactive, although it will dissolve in aqua regia"

Royal Society of Chemistry, Periodic Table: Gold

Royal Society of Chemistry, periodic-table.rsc.org

Further reading: FTC Jewelry Guides on gold content, 16 CFR 23.3. That resistance is why the jeweler's acid test works: base metals and plating react, while karat gold resists all but the strongest acids. The FTC Guides require karat gold to be marked with its true karat.

Solid 14K gold 2.8mm herringbone chain

Stamped 14K, gold throughout

14K yellow gold polished bead hoops

Solid 14K yellow gold

Solid 10K yellow gold 2.75mm rope chain

Solid 10K, the hardest common karat

Every order ships free with a 30-day return policy.

Start with the stamp, use a magnet to rule out obvious fakes, and let a jeweler confirm anything that matters. Solid gold always tells the same story all the way through. Every order ships free with a 30-day return policy.

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