Sound technical content, curated with aloha by
Ted Mooney, P.E. RET
Pine Beach, NJ

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NEED GOLD PURITY CHECK AND TESTING MACHINE

RFQ: Hello Sirs,

I want to know about different gold testing meters available in the market with their specifications and prices. I would be grateful if you could forward to me either their Phone or e-mail address and oblige.

Thanking you, Yours faithfully,

Rajesh Verma
- Etawah-U.P.-India
July 17, 2008

Ed. note: Sorry, this RFQ is old & outdated, so contact info is no longer available. However, if you feel that something technical should be said in reply, please post it; no public commercial suggestions please ( huh? why?)

Electronic Gold Tester

on Amazon

(affil links)

RFQ: Dear Sirs/Mesdames,
I would like to know the detailed information regarding the current availability of gold testing machines. please send me an reply with prospectus/catalog regarding the gold testing machine (includes models, price, standards, etc).
thanking you,
yours truly

L.Dhamodhar
- Chittoor, Andhra Pradesh, India
August 7, 2008

RFQ: Hello sir I want to start gold finance business please tell me, Is there any machine to check gold or not? if so, the details please, I just want to know if the metal is gold or gold plated for my sake. Please tell me the answer.

Ashu man
business man - India
March 16, 2009

RFQ: Hello sir,

This is srinivas,

I would like to know the detailed information regarding the current availability of gold testing machines. Please send me a reply with prospectus/catalog regarding the gold testing machine (includes models, price, standards, etc).

mogan srinivas
goldsmith - Hyderabad,A.P, India
October 12, 2010

September 24, 2012

Q. Hi there, Greetings.

I have a large collection of gold plated items (statues, antiques and others).

Many of them are supposed to be 24 kt.

However I have my doubts!

I'm trying to catalog my stuff, with info like place I bought, type of metal and quality of plating.

So my Q is: IS THERE ANY WAY TO CHECK THE KT OF THE PLATED ITEM?
i.e. : I have a 24 kt gold plated statue of a Hindu God. How can I check it to be sure its 24 kt or 22 kt?

Please advise... and share experience.

Sathesh Roy
- Singapore

A. Hi, Santosh.

There are gold testing acid/stone kits that will reveal the purity of gold, and there are electronic testers. If you have sufficient money, there are x-ray fluorescence machines that will give you a pretty good breakdown of the constituents. But frankly, the plating on most gold plated items is extremely thin, a µm or less, so there is very little intrinsic value to it. The value in costume jewelry and gold plated statuary is in its beauty not it's worth as melted scrap metal.

Most gold plating is probably 24 kt (and why not: it's very thin, it's easier to apply pure gold than alloy gold, and it's less subject to tarnish). But sellers are not allowed to label items with the karat of the gold plating because it can be misleading, implying solid gold; plus, it's irrelevant because 24 karat gold plating isn't worth more than 14 karat gold plating unless you also knew the thickness. Good luck.

Regards,

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
September 25, 2012

A. To add a little to Ted's answer.
The supply houses provide gold plating solutions to match the colour of various carat golds. This is achieved with very small additions of other metals and has very little effect on the composition. Various types are available with red, green or blue etc hues which appeal to different markets.
Costume and decorative plating thickness is often specified as a 'flash' meaning sufficient to colour the part but of no measurable thickness and hence of practically no reclaim value. I have known cases where a client has sent in a large quantity of gold plated scrap and been charged for the expense of stripping, refining and analysis which greatly exceeded the value of the gold. He was not pleased. Gold testing kits are of dubious value on solid gold items and are totally useless on plated items.

Geoff Smith
Hampshire, England
September 28, 2012

Q. Hello,
I just bought a new white gold 14k 6mm wedding band. It was something I am always curious about so I went to a pawn shop, they told me it is not real gold and it is only gold plated :(

Is it possible that a white gold plated band can be sold in a very genuine store and makes money out of it? Or is the pawn shop trying to find a way to make me feel bad and just give them the wedding ring as it is not worth anything anyway :(

Well I took the ring and having a hard time believing it was only gold plated, and found your site. I hope you could help me out a little just to ease the feeling of bad days :D

Saitamyong

Yong Saitam
Consumer - Los Angeles California
November 24, 2014

A. Hi Saitamyong. The first question is whether the ring is stamped/engraved "14 kt". If so, it would be fraud for the jewelry store to sell a band which is not 14 kt but which is labeled as such. I really don't think a reputable store would do that.

If the ring is not engraved "14 kt" then I would tend to believe the pawn shop that it is only plated. You could try an Archimedes test because something which is 14/24's gold would be pretty heavy. So find the density and figure out if it would reasonably be gold or non-gold at that density. If it's about 14.8 g/cc, it's probably 14 kt gold. If it's 10 or 11 g/cc or under, it's definitely not gold. Good luck.

Regards,

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
November 2014

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