Italy 18KT gold bracelet

[tennyson80]

Hi, I have a gold link bracelet that I got at an estate sale so I don't know anything about it.  It is marked ITALY and 18KT.  Is there any way to tell if it is real or fake?  Thanks for any help 🙂

[silverstatetreasureboxes]

@tennyson80 

Let's see entire bracelet and the mark Tennyson. Good chance it's probably gold, Italy produces some of the nicest!

[tennyson80]

Ok. Here's a couple photos.  The clasp is also marked 750.

[silverstatetreasureboxes]

@tennyson80 

Nice piece, your good to go. 750 is another term for 18k. Great find.

Gold prices have declined on the market, if you can wait to sell do it.

Silver

[tennyson80]

Sounds good.  Thanks for your help

[kaye70]

Is there any way to know if this is solid gold or gold plated?  Just trying to get a sense of its value

[anjofak]

Could hit it with a blow torch solid gold won't turn black,  can be used as a cleaning method if you research the how to ..

[from_me_2_you]

test it or take it to a jeweler for testing. I have a few necklaces that have a small tag that says 18KT, after testing it is not! Seems there is some info to be found by googing fake gold necklaces  by italy

[ajs_coins_and_alchemy]

If its plated it's "fake" since it's designed to give the impression of being solid. If it was legit and plated it would say plated.

My limited experience says I've been able to get about +33% over spot price for used/worn gold jewelry. So if you know purity and have a jewelry scale (costs $9-$10 on Amazon) you can calculate its gold spot price haven't checked recently but gold was running like $32/g and $42/g for 14K and 18K respectively, so take that and multiply it by the weight of the piece. -- A rough estimate says add 33% to that if you sell it as the jewelry item and not scrap (has to of course be sellable/marketable as the jewelry piece). Sold a nice 14K bracelet (22g?) and a nice 14K necklace (7.8g), came out about 30-33% over spot/scrap on each. $975 & $435 respectively.

[celebrityinspiredjewelry]

There are a few things you can check

1. pour a little bleach over it, if it changes color and turns black it is probably plated.

2. You can give it a little rub on the black stone surface, and see the color of the scratch if it is yellow it is gold for sure, if it is any other color, it will be plated. Also, you can check the surface of the metal where you scratched from, does it look exactly the same? Then it is gold.

3. You can get it checked by a jeweler. You can tell them you want to sell it, they will give you an estimate for the same. 

4. Mostly this bracelet with already some worn marks on it looks real gold.

With links rubbing against each other, the plating would have worn off already.

I hope this helps 🙂

[idealgems1]

Gold plated fakes of these kind of bracelets get pitted pretty quickly or worn a silver color around the edges and where the links rub.  If it's 18K, and it looks to be, it should feel warm and substantially heavy in your hands.  Also, a fake one rarely would have a nice, soldered jump ring on the clasp like this one has.  I concur that you are very likely good to go, and that it's a nice find.

Back when gold was only like $350 per ounce, I once had a lady come into my store with a heavy 14K Italian ladies' bracelet.  She said that she just bought it at a garage sale for $1.  She said she told the seller that "look, this is marked 14K".  The seller said, "I don't care.  It was my mom's and it's ugly and if you want it for a dollar, you can have it".  

I paid the buyer over $600 in scrap gold for it.

[auntiekittys]

What a lovely bracelet.  It looks like it has a little age on it...in a good way.  🙂  From the pictures, it looks authentic to me, but the only way to know is to test it. 

You can buy an inexpensive, acid, testing kit on Ebay.  They usually run about $10-$15.  The kit is easy to use, just be careful with the acid solutions and keep them off of your skin.  If you want to invest in something less messy, the electronic testers are also available.  They are more expensive, but are less messy and possibly more reliable. 

You could also take it to a jeweler, who can not only test it, but polish it up for you at a reasonable cost. 

~ Cynthia

[harmah82]

This is an alloy of silver or other metals with a gold alloy surface coating.

[barry-goodknight]

If you want to know for sure, you MUST take it for testing at a jeweler. If you don't get it tested properly, you can never be 100% sure. I'm sure a jeweler would test it for free or for a very tiny fee. If you take it to a pawn shop and pretend like you're interested in pawning it, they will most certainly test it for free. 

[flipping_treasures]

A dozen years or so ago, there was a lot of karat marked gold from Italy that was simply heavily plated and being sold on the interenet, including eBay.  You really need to have the piece tested.