01

BITE

The most primitive way is to "bite".
The more vivid the marks,
the higher the
purity of
gold.
Gold is weaker than
many other metals,
so if
you bite it, it will leave marks.

02

HALLMARK

Check the hallmark.
Nearly all real gold is stamped
with a
hallmark to tell you the
fineness or purity.
For example,
"14K" means that 14/24,
or 58.5% of
the metal is gold, and can be
denoted
either 14K or 585. However, the absence
of
a hallmark does not always mean the piece is
fake,
some really good fake pieces of jewelry will even have a
convincing fake hallmark or stamp, so even this method can be flawed.

03

NITRIC ACID

Conduct acid test.
Acid testing is based on the fact
that 24K gold resists
all but the
strongest acids. The purer the gold,
the
stronger the acid required to
dissolve it. Rub gold on
a touch-
stone to leave a sample and
place a drop of
acid from a 14K
testing bottle. If the acid has
dis-
solved the sample, it means
the gold is 14K or
higher.
This method requires use of acids, so
careful procedures are a must.

04

ELECTRONIC TESTER

Test gold’s electrical conductivity.
Electronic gold testers utilize the physical
fact that
fine gold, various alloys and foreign
material will all
differ in their electrical
conductivity. After applying an
electrical
charge to a sample, the tester
measures its
level of resistance and
correlates the resistance level
to known
gold alloy conductivity signature. Electronic

goldtesters are fairly accurate when used properly.
www.dahometerinstrument.com

05

LINKSQUARE

Check spectral signature.
This method utilizes the fact that fine gold,
various
alloys and foreign material will all
differ in their
response to near infrared light.
After illuminating light
on a sample,
LinkSquare measures the response of
the
sample to the light and correlates the
measure-
ment to known gold alloy
spectral signature.
LinkSquare is easy,
fast, and accurate, and most im-
portantly,
affordable.