Posted 10 years ago
stwillia76
(137 items)
Hello all. I have a huge lot of stuff from a jewelers estate in Florida. This is a beautiful carved jade Buddha gold bracelet. The bracelet's inside measurement is approximately 9". There are five carved Buddhas. Three top three seem to be smiling and the two near the fastener seem not to be. Each section is approximately 1"x 1". This piece seems old. It looks a bit like filigree. It is not marked gold.
Oh course I would like some info about the bracelet itself but I have a question for anyone about gold testing. Some of the pieces I have need to be tested. I was wondering will such testing hurt or damage the piece itself. Makes no sense in my whole mind why some would want to scrap something that is beautiful and a work of art like this bracelet.
Any comment is appreciated.
There are no marks on this piece. It does seem a bit worn on back so my guess is that it is not real gold. But I look at the filigree and it does look like gold. The detail of this piece is very nice. I thought it pretty old because it is also small., meaning a small size for a wrist in this day and time. Just curious about the 3 smiling buddhas and the two not smiling. Thought there might be a meaning about that as well.
I have a testing kit now but I still not sure of my own observations.
Having run an auction for quite a few years, my experience is that people scrap precious metals because they value "money" more than history or beauty..... The amount of beautiful sterling items that have been scrapped when silver goes high is really a shame..... in some cases bordering criminal....
The piece does not look gold to me. There appears to be base metal showing on the backs of the pieces. Additionally, the details of the carving of the pieces would be quite a bit more pronounced if set in gold. Not fail-safe tests, but pretty true the vast majority of the time.
Whenever I test gold I simply examine the piece very closely first for indications of a mark. They can be found in the oddest places sometimes. Gold pieces that are not marked as such are fairly uncommon. Not unheard of, but uncommon. It can be indicated by a k designation such as 14k, or also by a numeric designation, such as 585, the mark for 14kt. The three most common numeric marks are
375 - 10kt
585 - 14kt
750 - 18kt.
I have always found simply testing the item is generally sufficient without rubbing real gold next to it somewhere. I start with the test for 10k. Rub a small mark on the stone from an inconspicuous place on the item. If one drops the 10kt test acid on the mark on the test stone stone and it disappears, then you are generally done testing. It is not gold. In some cases base metals will dissolve slowly, but they change color immediately. Gold that is 9kt and lower is quite a bit less common. If some disappears and some stays, then inspect the rub point on the item to see if you see base metal below the rubbed point. If the plating is thin you can get base metal and gold plate which can yield confusing results. If the rubbed metal stays, then it indicates it is gold..... 10kt at a minimum. Rub another line and test for for 14k and if it stays repeat the process for 18kt. The vast majority of jewelry is 14kt gold as it looks good, is reasonably priced for gold, and it wears well.
With older pieces, such as Victorian era, the "plating" on an item can be quite thick.... and inspecting the piece for showing base metal is generally needed to insure it is solid gold. I have tested older plated items and had them test positive, and inspection revealed they were plated. Most pieces which are plated in any area of the item, are generally plated all over. The most common exceptions would be watches and necklaces, where the body of the watch, or the pendant can be solid gold, while chains and bands can be found to be plated. Charm bracelets can be another one......
If you are new to testing, then take a couple of pieces of jewelry known to be gold, and a couple of pieces of gold colored costume jewelry, and test them to familiarize yourself with the process.... and the results they yield........use a couple of different kt rating pieces if they are marked and available to you. Testing gold is simply a matter of familiarizing yourself with the process and the results the acids produce.
Hope this helps.
Very interesting comments lisasround and welzebub, thanks for your information?
Both great comments, thanks lisasround2 and welzebub. I have to add re the 9kt, I had an enormously ugly thick chain link ID bracelet and I took it around to several jewelers who wouldn't even test it, they just said the color was all wrong, it was not gold. Well on a trip to get rid of a bunch of scrap gold pieces I had the bracelet and on a whim asked him to test it along with the rest of the stuff, and he did, and looked rather puzzled, then left the room to consult someone else, came back and did more testing and looking, and finally said that it was indicating gold but less than 10kt, probably 9kt. I got a bit of money for that bracelet, lol.
Well at least yours looked greenish gold, lisa, mine looked spray-painted, LOL! :)) Guess even an expert can't tell by looking, not all the time at least. :)
Thanks for the advice. I was also curious. I put a powerful magnet to this piece. There was no attraction at all. If there was a base metal at all would that be attracted to magnet? I know brass is not magnetic.
No... Only something with an iron content would be attracted to the magnet..... most metals used in jewelry are not iron based, but generally contain cheaper lighter metals.