How to distinguish gold jewellery from gold-plated jewellery?

The carat defines the purity of the gold included in the metal of a jewel. There are several ways to know the carat of gold and therefore to distinguish a gold jewel from a gold-plated jewel. We can of course estimate your objects or jewellery, but it is always interesting to know the quality of your gold goods. Discover our few tips.

How to recognize gold jewellery?

The hallmark is a first good way to recognize a gold jewel as well as its carat. Indeed, the purity of a gold object is defined by a hallmark and depending on it, you can obtain its carat.

What is the carat? The carat is a measure of purity that will tell you about the alloy of a jewel. All official brand jewellery is marked with a hallmark that provides information on the number of carats in it. Pure gold is 24 carat, 18 carat gold contains 18 out of 24 parts gold, and is therefore 75% gold or 750 thousandths of gold.

For gold, you will find the eagle’s head or owl hallmark for 18 carat, the clover for 14 carat and the for 9 carat. The Minerva head hallmark indicates that an object is made of silver.

There are also professional gold metal recognition techniques that will let you know if you are dealing with gold jewellery or if it is gold plated. You will also get precisely the carat of your object.

You can use other methods to recognize gold jewellery from gold-plated jewellery such as the magnetic test, biting the jewellery, or the ceramic test. But these techniques could damage your property, and you will get an unreliable result. In order to know the true value of your jewel and to distinguish a gold jewel from a gold-plated jewel, we advise you to go directly to one of our shops to have your property estimated free of charge and in a reliable and serious manner.