Gold plated jewelery

A lot of people consider jewelry as a solid investment aside from being beautiful accessories. If you don’t know how to tell the difference between a gold chain and a gold plated chain, then you have to read the tips below so your investment won’t turn into a bad one.

1. Look for markings. Check your gold chain for markings such as G.E.P., R.G.P. or H.G.E., these marks will tell you that the gold chain is plated. G.E.P. stands for Gold Electroplate, H.G.E. stands for Heavy Gold Electroplate, and R.G.P. stands for Rolled Gold Plate. These markings are used by jewelry makers to show that the piece of jewelry you are purchasing has been plated. There are laws in certain countries that require jewelry makers to place karat quality markings on the gold jewelry they produce. The mark will be seen as a combination of a number and the letter K which stands for Karat. A 24K mark is equivalent to an amount of one hundred percent gold, other values will show different percentages of gold used on the gold chain.
2. Look for discoloration. Gold plated jewelry reacts to the chemicals on your body so if you wear it for some time the area of skin the gold chain was on will change into a different color. On some people who have a strong reaction to gold plated jewelry, their skin turns green. Rubbing a portion of the gold chain with a piece of cloth excessively can wear done the plating and produce a different color from the rest of the gold chain. Observe areas like corners and links on your gold chain and see if there is discoloration on those areas. Those areas can wear out the plating faster than the rest of the gold chain so you will be able to see some discoloration. Some jewelry cleaning agents are strong enough to affect gold plating. If you use these agents to clean your gold chain and the color changes then you are sure you have a gold plated chain.
3. Use Nitric Acid. Nitric acid is used by jewelers to test pieces of jewelry. If you can get your hands on this chemical you can test your gold chain by yourself, but do wear rubber gloves not your bare hands when handling the chemical. If you are willing and desperate enough to find out if your gold chain is gold plated or not, make a scratch mark anywhere on the chain. You can dip the chain in the Nitric Acid or just place a small drop of the chemical directly on the scratch mark you made. The chemical will either produce a green color, white bubbly substance or no reaction at all. If there is no reaction then you know it isn’t gold plated but if you get a green color then this tells you that the gold chain is gold plated over metal. The white substance is a chemical reaction to gold on top of silver.

You should be cautious when purchasing gold jewelry and do make sure you know how to spot the plated ones.