Golden Hour Geometric Set
£59.24
Blooming Garden Set
£96.50
Vintage Glamour Set
£74.24
Golden Luxe Crystal Set
£74.24
Gold-tone pieces from our collection
Whether it's an inherited ring, a market find or something from your own jewellery box, knowing whether gold is real matters — for value, for care, and for peace of mind. Here's what you can reliably check at home, what the popular tests actually prove, and when to hand it to a professional.
Start with the hallmark
The single most useful check is the stamp. Look inside ring bands, on clasps, or on the backs of pendants and earrings — you may need a magnifying glass. Gold purity is usually marked in one of two ways: karats (9K, 14K, 18K) or millesimal fineness numbers:
| Stamp | Meaning | Gold content |
|---|---|---|
| 375 | 9 karat | 37.5% |
| 585 | 14 karat | 58.5% |
| 750 | 18 karat | 75% |
| 916 | 22 karat | 91.6% |
| 999 | 24 karat (fine gold) | 99.9% |
| 925 | Sterling silver — the piece is silver, possibly gold-coated (vermeil) | — |
| GP / GEP / HGE / "plated" | Gold plated over a base metal | Surface layer only |
In the UK, gold items weighing over 1 gram must legally carry a hallmark applied by an official Assay Office to be sold as gold — so a UK-bought "gold" piece with no hallmark at all deserves scepticism. Bear in mind stamps can be faked, so treat the hallmark as strong evidence, not absolute proof.
The magnet test — what it really proves
Gold is not magnetic. Hold a strong magnet (a fridge magnet is too weak — ideally a neodymium one) near the piece: if it snaps towards the magnet, it's not solid gold. But here's what most guides skip: many non-gold metals, including brass and copper, are also non-magnetic. So passing the magnet test does not prove something is gold — it only rules out strongly magnetic fakes. Note that clasps and springs often contain steel, so test the main body of the piece.
Look for wear points
Solid gold is the same colour all the way through. On plated pieces that have seen years of wear, the coating thins first at friction points — edges, corners, the inside of a band, chain links near the clasp. If you see a different-coloured metal (silvery, coppery or dull grey) showing through at these points, the piece is coated rather than solid.
Weight and feel
Gold is exceptionally dense — pure gold weighs roughly 19.3 g/cm³, around twice as much as brass or steel. A solid gold piece feels distinctly heavy for its size. This takes some experience to judge by hand, but a piece that feels surprisingly light for its bulk is a red flag.
Tests we'd skip at home
You'll find plenty of guides recommending vinegar, bleach or scratch-and-acid kits. We'd leave these to professionals: acids and bleach can permanently damage plated or gemstone-set jewellery, and home scratch tests leave marks. A jeweller or assay service can test gold non-destructively — often with an XRF scanner that reads the exact metal composition in seconds — usually for a modest fee.
"Not solid gold" doesn't mean "fake"
One important distinction: gold plated and gold vermeil jewellery openly sold as such isn't fake — it's honestly labelled jewellery made with a real gold surface at an accessible price. "Fake" is when something is misrepresented. Our gold-tone pieces are 14K gold plated or 18K gold vermeil, and we say exactly that on every product page — so you can buy knowing precisely what's on your skin and what it will cost to enjoy.