Understanding the Purity of Gold Jewelry

You may not know it, but the never-ending quest for gold purity has spanned centuries.  In the Middle Ages, alchemists tried to convert more common metals, like lead, to gold.   While they weren't successful in their goal, mankind's lust for this fine, beautiful metal has endured, and finding out the purity of gold jewelry is not only easy to do, but it could be quite profitable!

One of the most common ways you may have heard of is the "bite test".  Biting into a piece of pure gold will cause it to yield a little.  This is an old-fashioned but somewhat truthful gauge of gold purity - however there are much better tests to determine the purity of your gold jewelry.

Twenty-four carat gold is the purest gold jewelry you can buy. Karat is the term used to measure the weight of the gold, while carat (same pronunciation - different spelling) is used as a measurement of its purity.  When you buy 24 carat gold, you're buying gold that is 99.9% pure.  18 carat gold contains 75% gold, 12 carat contains 50% - and so on.

Why not 100% pure gold?  Because it's impossible to get 100% pure gold, even directly from a gold mine, where gold ore is often intermingled with silver.  Even the gold bars at reserves like Fort Knox are stamped 999 as a grade of purity and fineness.

There are certain acid test kits and equipment you can buy to find out how pure your gold is, but the costs involved mean you'll have to test a considerable amount of gold jewelry to offset the expense.  Otherwise you can take your gold to an independent jeweler and have them analyze its purity for you.

A good, free way to test for gold purity is to examine your gold jewelry closely for a "hallmark" from the designer or company it came from.  All pure, high quality gold jewelry contain a mark or a stamp of some kind, as well as the carat designation of the piece.

Whether you've tested the purity of your gold jewelry yourself or had an independent jeweler test it for you, you may find that the gold is lesser quality than you expected - and that you simply may not want to wear it anymore.  Many people mistakenly sell their unwanted gold jewelry to the jeweler who tested for its purity - thinking they'll get the best deal this way.  Unfortunately, they also lose a considerable amount of money.

This is because the jeweler - and other third parties like pawn shops and consignment stores - acts as a middleman, taking their cut of the value of your gold jewelry and then sending it off to a refinery before you get your money back. It's a time-consuming process with several pitfalls along the way -- your gold could be stolen, damaged or lost in transit.

To overcome this, the ideal way is to work directly with the refinery and have them send you a free, insured gold kit packet to mail your unwanted jewelry in.  One such company that has been in the refining business for over 60 years is Cash4Gold.  They take care of sending, insuring and tracking your gold jewelry and pay some of the highest prices in the industry - since they have their own refinery on site. 

Getting cash for your gold is worth looking into if you find that the gold purity is not up to the standard you were led to believe in - and working directly with a refinery cuts out the middleman, so you keep more of your money.  You may be surprised to learn just how much your gold jewelry is worth!