Gold Test Kit

Test and confirm that your purchases are gold.  Fake stuff is definitely out there, sometimes even sold unknowingly.  Short of sending it to a lab, this will give you the peace of mind when buying precious metals.  Sold with complete instructions.  Works as a yes/no test to tell if gold is of the stated purity or better.  Comes with a ceramic test stone which is useful for testing gold pieces that you don't want to damage like Krugerrands.

Auction is for a kit of 10ml test solutions of 9k and 18k test acid, a ceramic test stone, and full laminated instructions.  The test solutions contain concentrated acids and other potentially harmful chemicals.  Acid is corrosive and care should be taken when using.  Keep out of reach of children.  If spilt on skin, wash immediately under running water. Avoid breathing fumes, eye contact and direct contact with skin or ingestion.

To properly ascertain that an item is not plated, you will usually need to file a groove in the item so the acids can penetrate below the plating. No single test can be taken as absolute confirmation, so it is recommended you use at least 1 other test such as listed in our FAQ below. Chemicals can and do lose their effectiveness with time.  The stronger acids such as the 20k test solution may lose their effectiveness after about a year.  Individual replacement solutions are available at approx R90 each.  10ml bottles of other test solutions are also available on request.  A full kit with 6 test solutions is also available.

The following is an example of what can happen when you don't test your purchases:

Items will be delivered for collection at your nearest post office counter.
Items can be combined from different auctions at highest shipping cost to save on postage. Add 2% of value of additional items to cover insurance.
Courier service is available.  You may also arrange your own courier and insurance.
Parcels will be dispatched within 3 working days AFTER payment has been received.
If full payment is not made within 3 working days, a negative rating may be given and 5 % penalty fee may be added to total amount due.
Collections can be arranged in Port Elizabeth, waiving the postage.

Please visit our other listings:
http://www.bidorbuy.co.za/seller/1994136/fine999

FAQ

How else can I test gold/silver

• Commercially gold and silver can be assayed non-destuctively using a small handheld x-ray device.  As these cost over R160,000, they are not commonly available to the man-on-the street.
• Silver can be accurately assayed by wet chemical titration, and gold is accurately assayed by fire assay
• You can buy a good jewelers scale to weigh an item against the expected weight
• Feel and intuition. If you handle gold and silver a lot, you will intuitively learn it's density, the sound it makes when dropped, and it's heat conductivity
• You can measure the specific gravity of gold which is extremely dense, more than even lead.
• Learn to read the hallmarks

What is 9k, 14k, 22k (karat) gold?

Gold is usually alloyed with other metals such as copper.  It's purity is expressed as a fraction of 24.  Thus 24 karat/carat gold is pure gold, 9k gold is 9/24ths or 37.5% gold, and 14k gold is 14/24ths gold. 

How do I know what test solution to use?
Firstly, you should have an idea of what the purity of gold is that you are testing.  The most common jewellery purities are 9k and 18k.  If you suspect it is 9k, use the 9k solution.  This should test negative for any alloy less than 9k.  A positive result means you have 9k or purer gold.  The 18k solution will confirm that your sample is 18k or purer.  The 18k solution will confirm for example that a Krugerrand (22k) is at least 18k or purer.

Please visit our other listings at:
http://www.bidorbuy.co.za/seller/1994136/fine999