Is it possible to take jewelry to a pawnshop without proof?

When purchasing gold items, the first thing to consider is the sample. Gold is a metal that has value at all times.

Countries around the world are interested in hallmarking gold jewelry. And according to the legislation of the Russian Federation, all gold products intended for sale must be marked. But gold without hallmark can still be found. Gold jewelry comes into our lives not only through retail chains. We can receive them as a gift, by inheritance, or purchase them from private jewelers.

Content:

1. Why is there no hallmark on gold?
2. Is a hallmark or hallmark on gold a guarantee of quality?
3. Methods for checking gold for authenticity
4. How to check gold for authenticity with your own hands
5. Where to put a stamp or hallmark on a gold product if there is none
6. Is it possible to sell gold without assay?

To give a gold product strength, as well as to reduce the cost of the final product, various metals are added to gold - silver, brass, copper, nickel and others. Accordingly, the specific gold content in the final product decreases. Confirmation of the authenticity of a piece of jewelry, as well as an informational sign showing the content and fineness of gold, is a hallmark (or hallmark).

But on some, even high-quality gold jewelry, there is no mark. This could be for several reasons. Firstly, the mark was not always placed on jewelry. The mark, as a confirmation of the quality of a jewelry product, as well as protection against fraud, was introduced by Tsar Peter I by decree, obliging jewelers to apply a hallmark to their products. Therefore, if your gold jewelry is missing hallmarks, it may be antique. It's unlikely, but the possibility exists. Secondly, gold jewelry can be made by a private craftsman. Private craftsmen do not always brand and test their products. If you ordered your jewelry from a master you know and are confident in him, perhaps your gold is genuine, although without a mark. However, you can always have your gold checked by an independent expert jeweler. Thirdly, your product may contain much less gold than was indicated on the price tag when you purchased it. To hide the fact of discrepancies in gold content, unscrupulous sellers try to sell gold without indicating the purity. In this case, you can also check the quality of your gold with an independent expert. Fourthly, perhaps what you think is gold is actually costume jewelry. Costume jewelry can be cheap and expensive. But even expensive jewelry does not contain gold, in extreme cases, only a thin coating. In this case, you have become a victim of scammers. Fifthly, your gold jewelry may have undergone restoration, and during the process the area with the hallmark or hallmark was used to restore the main item. Sixth and last, your gold item was made by handicraft, perhaps from melted down gold from other items.

Why is there no mark?

Gold without significant additives and without a hallmark remains a precious metal. The hallmark shows the amount of precious metal in the product.

Under Peter I, the level of gold in coins was 98%. After Peter the Great, intensive state support for jewelers in their activities began in the Russian Empire.

For variety (gold changes color in combination with different metals) and to make soft gold more hard, cheaper soft metals began to be mixed into it. There are several valid and not entirely worthy reasons why the ring will not contain a sample.

1. The product may turn out to be antique, made in a time when labeling was not strictly followed.
2. Prints on old products are erased due to the softness of the metal.
3. A product made of yellow precious metal will be without hallmark after alteration or restoration.
4. Stamps are not applied to handicraft production of small series.
5. Unique handmade items that are not widely traded may also be unmarked.
6. Private jewelry collections.
7. Products brought from abroad, especially from resorts. Italy, Spain, Turkey, Greece are countries where trade in unmarked gold products is not prohibited.
8. Possibility of counterfeit.

Is a hallmark or hallmark on gold a guarantee of quality?

No, a sample or stamp is not a 100% guarantee of quality. Fraudsters who counterfeit jewelry copy and hallmark their items. Therefore, a jeweler appraising a gold item looks at the sample first, but then conducts other tests. Keep in mind that gold is authenticated only if its owner has given permission.

How does a specialist determine the sample?

To sell gold without assay profitably, entrust the determination of the quality of the alloy to a pawnshop employee. It is important to remember that a specialist has the right to determine the percentage of gold in the alloy only with the permission of the owner of the jewelry.

Gold earrings from the brand “DEL'TA” (go to the SUNLIGHT catalog)

A neat undercut is made on the inside of the product, onto which special reagents are then applied. This procedure is necessary in order to determine what impurities and in what quantity are present in the decoration. Only after determining the sample can a pawnshop employee tell you the exact cost of the jewelry.

You can read more about determining the gold standard here.

Traditional methods of checking gold for authenticity

• Using a file, a small scratch is applied to the gold item. If a product is presented as gold, but in fact is only covered with a thin layer of gold, a scratch will indicate the presence of another metal under the gold layer
• The smell. All metals have their own smell, but gold does not have it.
• Gold is inert and resistant to aggressive environments, so it can be tested for mold. To do this, gold is placed in fresh black bread for several days. When the bread has become stale and moldy, it is broken and the gold item is examined. If the gold is genuine, there will be no traces of mold or oxidation left on it

Keep in mind that authenticity is best checked by an experienced jeweler.

In what cases is a sample missing?

A large amount of ligature requires careful care of the product, since it may unexpectedly turn black or become covered with a film. In addition, some types of impurities tend to cause allergies, so if you are not aware of their presence in the alloy, you can harm your health.

If the sample is not indicated on the product, this may mean the following:

• The decoration is fake. There are alloys that are difficult for a beginner to distinguish from real gold. You can carry out several testing methods before purchasing, but they all involve applying a small cut and a subsequent chemical reaction with iodine or a lapis pencil. Determining authenticity by color is also an unreliable option, since the ligature in the product can give a different shade. Do not believe this method of verification, such as throwing jewelry on the table and making a special sound of gold at the same time. This is difficult to determine for a person who does not understand the product and does not have an ear for music.
• The bracelet or chain was made to order from a jeweler. Private orders from craftsmen often end in the fact that the items are not marked and the sample is not indicated. Therefore, it is quite difficult to verify the authenticity of such a product. Here you need to trust the jeweler’s word, since he does not have a stamp with which to put a mark. This is why many do not risk making products to order.

Gold bracelets look great on the wrist.
There are often cases when a product has a non-standard hallmark, for example, 777, and such a hallmark does not exist. Therefore, in order not to put a mark with 750 hallmark, jewelers, in general, do not put identification marks on the product. Of course, this information should be indicated in special documents, but only if you ordered a copy from specialized companies or large factories. If such a product was made by local craftsmen, it is not indicated anywhere.

The gold-plated option is also not suitable. Since this type of coating also has its own designations and branding options. Even the karat system indicates the values ​​of gilding, as well as the product itself under the top layer. This is done without fail and is even taken into account in the karate system. True, if the amount of gold was initially calculated in carats, then the signs will differ from the usual samples.

Where to put a stamp or hallmark on a gold product if there is none

If your gold item is truly genuine and, for example, custom-made and very valuable to you, you can officially put a real hallmark or hallmark on it. This service is provided by the State Assay Chamber. Typically, legal entities resort to its services, but individuals also have the right to use its services. This process is not cheap and will take more than a month, but your sample or stamp will be officially affixed.

Is it possible to sell gold without assay?

Of course, gold can be sold without assay. Either way it will be gold. You can sell your gold to a jeweler or a pawnshop. The price for it will be lower than you bought it, but it will still be the price of gold. Pawnshops buy gold, calling it buying scrap precious metals.

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Checking with improvised means

Of course, checking using the above methods does not always give a 100% guarantee that what you are looking at is not a fake. Perhaps you did the experiment incorrectly (you didn’t see the sample or the top covering of the table turned out to be too soft) or you still doubt the quality of the gold product.

Then the following available means will come to the rescue: iodine, vinegar and ordinary black bread. Read on to learn how to check.

Iodine

To check authenticity using iodine you need:

• Place 1 drop of iodine on the jewelry and wait 5 minutes.
• Wipe the iodine with a tissue or rinse with water. If the jewelry has changed color and darkened, it is a fake. When darkening, the color of the product changes to gray or black with a greenish tint.

Place one drop of iodine on the jewelry and wait five minutes

Vinegar

Another easy way to check authenticity is to use regular table vinegar:

• To do this, you need to pour a small amount of vinegar into a ceramic or plastic bowl (never an iron one).
• Place the decoration in it and leave for 5-7 minutes.
• Gold will not change its appearance in any way , but the fake will darken.

Nitric acid

Another method of chemically testing gold for authenticity is the reaction to nitric acid:

• To conduct the experiment, place the jewelry being tested in a deep metal bowl and drop 1 drop of nitric acid onto it.
• If the product does not change color to green or milky , it means it is made of gold.

To conduct the experiment, place the jewelry being tested in a deep metal bowl and drop just one drop of nitric acid onto it.

Scratch with a needle

You can also check the authenticity of a gold item using a regular needle. To do this, you need to forcefully scrape the jewelry being tested with a needle. Nothing will happen to real gold. But the gilding will come off easily.

Contact with gold

Every person has a gold item, the authenticity of which he has no doubt:

• In order to carry out the test, you need to: draw a line with real gold on a hard surface.
• Carry out a similar action on the same surface and with the object you doubt.
• There should be no differences between the lines.

You can purchase a special jewelry set with samples of different metals. This way you will determine not only the authenticity of the gold, but also its quality.

Magnet

Every person knows that pure gold is in no way magnetic:

• Apply the product being tested to a magnet and see what comes out of it all.
• If a product is even slightly attracted to a magnet, it is an alloy of metals. Copper can most often be passed off as gold. However, counterfeit gold items often involve metals such as aluminum, copper and tin. They also do not respond to magnetic testing, but are lighter in weight than similar gold products.

lapis pencil

Lapis pencil is a drug for stopping bleeding and treating wounds. You can easily buy it at a pharmacy.

To check the decoration you need:

• Wet the product with running water.
• Draw a line on the wet product with a lapis pencil.
• Wipe off the mark with a dry cloth.

If a pencil mark remains on the surface of the product, this is another fake.

Black bread

For this experiment you will need fresh bread crumb. You can check absolutely any product in this way:

• We take the crumb and wrap the gold product in it.
• Roll into a ball and leave for several days until it becomes stale.
• When this happens, remove the product from the bread. The appearance of gold will not change in any way, but the alloys will undergo oxidation and change color.

Ceramic tile

If you have untreated ceramic tiles at home, you can use them as a gold test:

• To do this, you need to run various metals and the product you want to test over the tile.
• The trail from it should be golden. Other metals will leave behind black and gray streaks.

Reaction to the sun

For this method of verification, you will have to work a little with nature. A bright sunny day is required:

• First, carefully examine the product being tested in the shade. Remember how it shines, what color it is.
• Now we do the same under direct sunlight. Standing on the street, look how bright and presentable the product looks.
• Real gold never loses its appearance in any weather conditions.

Archimedes' method

This verification method is more suitable for large gold items (for example, gold bars). However, it requires some effort and knowledge.

For this experiment you will need a deep container and water:

• Fill the container with water to the brim. You should first find out how much water you have collected.
• Slowly and carefully immerse the gold item in the container and let the water overflow (leak out) over the edges.
• Now let’s remember Archimedes’ law of buoyancy: “A body immersed in a liquid is acted upon by a buoyant force equal to the weight of the liquid in the volume of the immersed object.”
• Using the formula FA=pgV, where p is the density of the liquid, g is the acceleration of gravity and V is the volume of the immersed body, we find out the mass of the gold product. The density of water is 900 kilograms per 1 cubic meter.

According to Archimedes' law, gold must sink. Since its weight is greater than the volume of displaced liquid. The nuances of the method are in the video below.