New and need some help please.

[Anonymous]

I have been on here for alittle while now,but this is my first post.
I have a nice 100+ gram stash i have been collecting,i just bought a test kit to try and identify the unmarked pieces.
I cannot for the life of me figure out how this kit works,i followed the directions..but im having problems. Such as..i test a piece that i know for a fact is 14k,but the acid makes the test mark dissapear...the 10k solution has no effect on it....same for 10k pices...the 10k solution makes it disapear,but the 14k does nothing????
The directions say if it disapears then its less then the liquid..if no change then its higher.
But all the tests i have done are contradicting this.
Can you guys give me some advise please? Thanks.Tony

 

[Harold_V]

Tony,

You're going to have to provide a lot more information than you have. None of us understand what you're using as a test kit----so the reactions mean nothing to us.

Mean time, if you have 10K gold, it should discolor towards brown if you apply a drop of nitric acid. 14K should remain largely unchanged. If you get a green/blue reaction and fizzing, it's not gold at all, but brass, or a copper or nickel alloy of sorts.

Tell us more about the test kit in question. Be certain to describe the test solution(s). Are you using stannous chloride for any of the reactions?

Harold

 

[goldsilverpro]

Sounds like the regular test solutions sold for use with a touchstone. If you leave the solutions on for a long time, just about anything can dissolve. A few seconds should be enough time. Get a set of gold needles to compare with.

I have seen acids that were made too strong. Maybe try a set of acids from another company.

 

[Anonymous]

Sorry i wasnt able to get back sooner..nursing a sick gecko right now. The test kit is just one i bought from ebay 10k 14k 18k solution with a stone. The bottle says JSP,.,. contains nitric acid & muriatric acid.

I dont know what im doing wrong..also the 14k test liquid seems to dissolve the metal very fast and puts of alot of smoke

Should i just spend the 200 and get one of those mitzer electronic ones and give up on this stuff?

 

[Harold_V]

seems to dissolve the metal very fast and puts of alot of smoke

Should i just spend the 200 and get one of those mitzer electronic ones and give up on this stuff?

Seems to me like you got a pig in a poke. It does no one any good to have a test procedure that is not explained well.

You might investigate a gold testing kit that can by procured from a jewelry supply house. It comes with bottles, touch stone and test needles, plus the makings for Schwerter's solution, assuming my memory is intact. That's what GSP is talking about. With today's price on gold, it may not be cheaper than the test instrument, but worth a look.

If you are stumbling about aimlessly, and don't really understand what you're doing, there's nothing better you could do for yourself than to get a copy of Hoke's book. It describes in fine detail how to test various metals, and how to prepare testing solutions. As a bonus, it will teach you to refine the metals as well.

Harold

 

[catfish]

To Blend:

I buy quite a bit of karat gold and I exclusively use the prepared gold and silver test kits that you can buy from a jewelry supply house.

Harold and GSP have offered you some good advice on the test solutions. It is much easier and less expensive to buy the test kits already made up.

As far as the Mitzer tester, I have one but seldom ever use it. I have found that it will lead you astray on heavy gold plated, filled or rolled jewelry. It works on an electrical capacitance measurement principle. It some times will read 14 to 18 karat on heavy plated, rolled or filled jewelry. I have found that there are no subsitute for the acid test. The only difference is, I always file a notch in the gold so the acid can get down to the metal, if it is just heavy gold plated, rolled or filled. The jewelry I buy is for either refining or resell to a Recycler, so the filed notch doesn’t make any difference. On any nice pieces I buy that I may want to resell, I try not to file it; I only will do a stone test on a non-conspicuous place and make absolutely sure that it is hall marked with the karat gold rating only. Even with these test, you cannot be absolutely sure. There are some risks.

You need to get some good hallmarked jewelry and practice with the acids. They will always work. It just takes a little practice. As far as the non marked gold jewelry, the biggest majority of jewelry will be hallmarked with the karat rating. I have run into some specialty items such as pins, broaches and other things of this misc. nature that are not hall marked. You may run to some chains that have a hall marked clasp that some joker has attached to a gold plated chain. You just have to watch for this sort of thing and you will eventually become paranoid when you spot a piece of unmarked jewelry.

Hope you lots of luck.

Catfish

 

[goldsilverpro]

Very good post, Tom. You said it a lot better than I could. Good to have you back.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for all your advise guys. Most of the un-halmarked stuff i have is earings,some pins and settings also,thats the syuff i was weary about

 

[Robbie]

To Blend:

I buy quite a bit of karat gold and I exclusively use the prepared gold and silver test kits that you can buy from a jewelry supply house.

Harold and GSP have offered you some good advice on the test solutions. It is much easier and less expensive to buy the test kits already made up.

As far as the Mitzer tester, I have one but seldom ever use it. I have found that it will lead you astray on heavy gold plated, filled or rolled jewelry. It works on an electrical capacitance measurement principle. It some times will read 14 to 18 karat on heavy plated, rolled or filled jewelry. I have found that there are no subsitute for the acid test. The only difference is, I always file a notch in the gold so the acid can get down to the metal, if it is just heavy gold plated, rolled or filled. The jewelry I buy is for either refining or resell to a Recycler, so the filed notch doesn’t make any difference. On any nice pieces I buy that I may want to resell, I try not to file it; I only will do a stone test on a non-conspicuous place and make absolutely sure that it is hall marked with the karat gold rating only. Even with these test, you cannot be absolutely sure. There are some risks.

You need to get some good hallmarked jewelry and practice with the acids. They will always work. It just takes a little practice. As far as the non marked gold jewelry, the biggest majority of jewelry will be hallmarked with the karat rating. I have run into some specialty items such as pins, broaches and other things of this misc. nature that are not hall marked. You may run to some chains that have a hall marked clasp that some joker has attached to a gold plated chain. You just have to watch for this sort of thing and you will eventually become paranoid when you spot a piece of unmarked jewelry.

Hope you lots of luck.

Catfish

Hello, I'm Robbie. I bought a acid test kit myself. I have found that many items test as 10k., but several tines I have intentionally tested brass and it shows 10k.. Acid not proper? The 14, 18+ acid I can smell, 10k I can not. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

 

[TBoom27]

I have intentionally tested brass and it shows 10k.. Acid not proper?

Assuming you have checked items with a magnet first…

There are a lot of metals and alloys that will not dissolve right away with the test acids.

The acids are really there to test the purity of the gold. Determining if it’s gold takes a few more observations and a skeptical eye, along with the acid kit.

Before even using the acid on the streak left on the stone consider two things. 1) Did the streak itself appear without much effort? If not, then it is likely not gold but rather an alloy with steel or something else. Gold should streak easily. 2) Is the color of the streak gold, regardless of yellow, white or rose gold alloy? If it is silver white, it could be gold plating over silver, or just junk, or much less likely, platinum. Testing for silver is worth it for these items. If the streak is a copper color, then it is almost certainly gold plating over copper or some mix of base metals. Depending on the base metals, this may or may not react quickly, or at all, to the acids.

As said above, anything that passes the gold streak and acid test, if scrap, should be filed to test for gold filled or heavy plate.