There is a simple way to determine the percentage of gold on a comparison
basis. Typically 10K is 25%,14K is 50%, 18K 75%, 22K 90% gold and the rest
is alloying materials mostly of which is copper. The blend of these
alloying elements vary nation to nation. Depending on a person's skin's
acid content, corrosion can take place. The test you can do is simple. You
will need an Arkansas stone, test samples and a small bottle of sulfuric
acid. Ideally, you should have a test sample of each known carat weight. Rub
each sample, creating a line on the stone, then take your unknown sample and
rub a line with that. With a glass rod, collect a drop of acid and deposit
the acid on the test lines on the stone. You will then see the lines fade as
the acid eats the alloying elements. The 22K sample will hardly change, the
10K sample will virtually dissapear. By comparing your unknown sample, you
can readily determine the gold content. Please note that the rubbing of the
samples on the Arkansas stone will not damage the samples.
Steve
"Ignoramus27444" wrote in message
...
In article , A.Gent wrote:

"Ignoramus27444" wrote in message
...
I asked this question in another newsgroup, but decided to also ask
here, since there is a bunch of experts who can probably give some
good input.

I received a "gold chain" as a birthday present, two months ago. Since
then, the chain has discolored in ways that made me suspect that it is
not real gold. It is stamped "14K Italy".

For very high quality scans (including enlarged pictures) of the chain,
see

http://igor.chudov.com/tmp/gold-chain/

(click on the thumbnail images to enlarge).

Can this possibly be gold?

I am going to sam's club tonight and will ask their jeweler also.

I think that the person who gave me this present got screwed.


If you own, or have access to, an accurate digital (or anaolog) scale,
then you could
do a specific gravity test on the chain.
This is not absolutely definitive, but is a damn good indicator.
The scale should be 0.01g resolution. The more common 0.1g resolution
unit will give
less accurate, but still useable results.

See http://mendosus.com/sg.html for the method.


I do not have such a scale, but I really like the method. It is simple
and very clever.
--
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