Fraud with Gold of 18K

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Joined
Feb 10, 2013
Messages
12
Good evening

Yesterday came'd my friend that works in Jeweler's shop here in Montevideo(Uruguay)

He told me A curious case about Fake Gold Scam.

Last week comed a man with Gold Chain of 25 Gr weight.

He told that he want to sell it, The Chain had grab Tiffany&Co and 750 Germany on the lock.

My friend went to check it with Acid Test of 18K, the result was positive of 18 K gold.

So he paid him the money and the man leave'd.

After my friend melt the Chain and he saw that is just had many microns of Gold Plating.

He discover'd that its were of Stainless Steel,

So he don't understand how the man could swindle him with the chain, its impossible that the chain passed Acid Test.

And he not only scratched the chain in the stone and put the acid, he also apply the acid in the top of the chain to see if it real.

The only form its possible if the Chain may had MANY microns of Thickness of Gold plating( 20,30,40)
 
Did the customer ever handle, touch, or have possession of the chain again after your friend tested it?
 
Palladium said:
Did the customer ever handle, touch, or have possession of the chain again after your friend tested it?

No, he just give it to my friend because he wanted to sell it, he told him that it 18 K Gold,My friend Test it with Acid and its pass the test so my friend weight it and give him the money.
 
it seems your friend didnt scratch deep enough. when testing, its always a good idea to visually check the metal as well as acid test. he may have spotted the white metal at the scratch test with a loupe.
 
Geo said:
it seems your friend didnt scratch deep enough. when testing, its always a good idea to visually check the metal as well as acid test. he may have spotted the white metal at the scratch test with a loupe.

Yes,but you never will know if the Chain has more than 30 microns of gold plating(IS VERY THIN GOLD PLATING)
 
Hi
now a days
cut the the chain so that you can do a test the chain will not be resold then test
this scratch and test is good but only if you do it right there are so many people out to rob you in this business
never trust the marking lots of fakes
as your friend is a pawnbroker he don't have the time to check every piece as it comes in only with the touch stone
if it's heavy plated and he don't scratch deep enough it will be his lost
tell you friend to cut a piece of the chain then test it with nitric experience will let him be a better buyer
everyone here will tell to tell your friend to be more careful
we have a lot of people on this forum that buy and sell from the public that can give you advice there si lots of tricks of the trade to catch
the frauds.

Rikki
 
RikkiRicardo said:
Hi
now a days
cut the the chain so that you can do a test the chain will not be resold then test
this scratch and test is good but only if you do it right there are so many people out to rob you in this business
never trust the marking lots of fakes
as your friend is a pawnbroker he don't have the time to check every piece as it comes in only with the touch stone
if it's heavy plated and he don't scratch deep enough it will be his lost
tell you friend to cut a piece of the chain then test it with nitric experience will let him be a better buyer
everyone here will tell to tell your friend to be more careful
we have a lot of people on this forum that buy and sell from the public that can give you advice there si lots of tricks of the trade to catch
the frauds.

Rikki

Yes, but they can't broke the chain to see if it gold or not, they have normal acid test.

My opinion is that the chain had VERY thin gold plated,so if the chain has more than 30 Microns of plating is difficult to see the difference.
 
Martin, that's why you MUST file deep into the chain, and then test with the proper acid. A magnet, sometimes, also can give a clue. If you don't want to loose money, you must do the proper testing! If the person "selling" the item doesn't allow you to test properly, DON'T BUY IT!
Phil
 
MartinMartinez said:
Geo said:
it seems your friend didnt scratch deep enough. when testing, its always a good idea to visually check the metal as well as acid test. he may have spotted the white metal at the scratch test with a loupe.

Yes,but you never will know if the Chain has more than 30 microns of gold plating(IS VERY THIN GOLD PLATING)

Martin,

I totally agree with Geo on this. I've scratched a fair amount of gold. If I suspect gold plate, I make a series of lines right next to each other on the stone using a sharp edge or corner of the piece I'm testing. I keep the lines separate, but close together and one right after the last like a series of IIIIIIIIs. Before I apply any acid to the stone, I use a 10X loupe and look at the edge I've just scratched. You can usually spot any difference in color between the yellow gold plate, and the copper colored or white base metal. A few scratches on a stone will go through a LOT more than 30 microns. If it still looks yellow, I add the test acid to the stone. By keeping the original test scratches separate, I can see if the first line or 2 react differently than the last line or 2.

I suspect the item your friend tested "passed" the test because the base metal in this case was stainless steel. He may not have seen much of a reaction from stainless on his stone, as compared to a copper alloy base metal. If he had examined the item under good light with a good loupe, he might have avoided this mistake. Trust (the acid test), but verify (with a visual examination).

Dave
 
I bought some jewelry a couple of days ago, and there was a men's "gold" nugget ring. My grandson thought it was gold because it was stamped 14k. I told him, no way!
From the moment I saw it I knew something was wrong with the color; I was 99% sure it wasn't gold. So, after testing it for him... it was brass!
Phil
 
An Alpha Mirage Specific Gravity scale will catch these type of items in less than 10 seconds and be non destructive. Get the bigger one! I did a group buy about for 20 of them about a year ago. It is really only accurate on solid items and if it off,it is off in your flavor. I have two and use them both many times a day. Along with my XRF, you can fool one but it's difficult to fool both.

Dan
 
MartinMartinez said:
Geo said:
it seems your friend didnt scratch deep enough. when testing, its always a good idea to visually check the metal as well as acid test. he may have spotted the white metal at the scratch test with a loupe.

Yes,but you never will know if the Chain has more than 30 microns of gold plating(IS VERY THIN GOLD PLATING)

30 microns thick plating is quite thick. its .00118 inches thick or 1182 micro inches thick plating. I have some slip rings right now with plating at around 75 (or better) micro inches and I'm in love with them. If it was this thick the stone might have had some trouble with it.

Eric
 
I have carried out tests on stainless steel as a jeweller friend advised me of this sort of thing happening. Acids will pass as gold on stainless steel. Practise Filing into stainless steel and (true)18ct gold you will no how different it feels. Also the only magnets i use now as another tests are the magnets from old hard drives. I have noticed some cheap magnets not being strong enough to detect all base metals. There is an acid bottle test i have that distinguishes between platinum and stainless steel.
If you get caught once you will never make the same mistake again.
 
the classic "white gold" scam
we see more and more 18k Italy stamped stainless steel pieces
stainless steel will not dissolve with the acid on a scratch test, it will 100% stay on the stone, even after wiping the stone with a cloth
18k gold will lightly dissolve after 5 minutes on a scratch test and when you use your cloth to wipe the stone it will go away
Even a hard drive disk magnet wont magnetize the "good fakes"

the only way to differenciate 18k white gold from stainless steel on a scratch test is to wait approx 10 minutes to see if the acid works on the base metals, if the scratch marks remains intact = stainless

be carefull when buying white gold
 
stainless steel is a hard metal to file drill or cut gold and silver are much softer metals, when you file it for an acid test the hardness should be a clue, something is wrong when the file glide across and does not bite into the metal.

Maybe here the ole bite on it test, would let you know :twisted:
 
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