Do you have real gold and silver jewelry & coins — or have you been scammed?
Get your MONEY BACK with easy test kits — verify your precious metals in minutes.
What are you testing?
Nearly every kind of gold can be checked at home. Pick the closest match.
What a proper gold detection kit does
Acid purity testing
Graded solutions for 10K through 24K show karat on a streak in seconds, with no lab and no waiting.
Electronic conductivity testing
Reads below the surface, so a thick plating layer cannot pass itself off as solid metal.
Magnet and density checks
Gold is non-magnetic and extremely dense. Weight, displacement and a strong magnet expose cored bars.
Hallmark verification
Magnification reveals wrong fonts, missing assay marks and stamps added after the fact.
Why gold testing matters now
Gold has spent years at historically high prices, and counterfeiting follows the money. Tungsten has almost exactly the density of gold, so a cored bar with a genuine gold shell defeats the two checks most people rely on: it feels right and it weighs right. Only a conductivity reading, an ultrasonic test, or drilling tells the truth.
Jewelry has a quieter problem. Gold-filled and heavy-plated pieces are legally sold with correct descriptions, then resold second-hand as solid gold — sometimes deliberately, often because the seller genuinely does not know. Estate lots, house clearances and inherited boxes are full of both. When you pay by weight, mistaking gold-filled for 14K can cost more than ninety percent of what you handed over.
Selling has the mirror risk. Dealers test everything; you should test first, so you walk in knowing the karat and the weight of what you own. Buyers who can verify metal on the spot negotiate from a different position than buyers who cannot.
Compare testing methods
Acid, electronic and density kits side by side, with what each one catches.
What a kit protects you from
Overpaying by weight
Paying solid-gold prices for plated or gold-filled metal is the single most expensive mistake in the trade.
Fake hallmarks
A 750 stamp costs a counterfeiter nothing. Testing the metal is the only stamp that matters.
Plated resale
Reselling a plated piece you believed was solid exposes you to refunds, disputes and reputation damage.
Lowball dealer offers
Knowing the karat before you walk in turns a take-it-or-leave-it offer into a negotiation.
Price notice: record gold prices bring record counterfeits. The higher spot climbs, the more profitable a convincing fake becomes — and the smaller the window to reverse a payment once it clears.
Common questions
How accurate are gold test kits?+
A good kit combines methods. Acid testing reads surface karat reliably, an electronic conductivity tester reads deeper, and a density check catches tungsten-cored bars. Used together they identify the overwhelming majority of fakes.
Acid testing or an electronic tester — which do I need?+
Acid is cheap, fast and consumable, and it marks the piece slightly. Electronic testers are non-marking and read through thin plating, but cost more. Serious buyers own both.
Can I test jewelry without damaging it?+
Yes. Electronic testers, magnets, dimensional density checks and hallmark magnification are all non-destructive. Acid testing is done on an inconspicuous spot or on a filed streak on a test stone.
What does a gold detection kit cost?+
Entry acid kits start low, complete kits with a stone, magnifier and multiple solutions sit in the middle, and electronic testers are the most expensive tier. Any of them costs a fraction of one bad purchase.
How do I test a gold coin?+
Weigh it, measure diameter and thickness against the mint specification, check for magnetic response, then confirm with a conductivity tester. Off-spec weight or thickness is the most common tell.
What should I do if a piece fails?+
Stop the transaction, keep everything in writing, and retest with a second method before making an accusation. If you already paid, contact your payment provider quickly — the dispute window is short.
Gold Testing Kit Buying Guide
Which kit type fits jewelry, coins or bullion — and what to skip.
Explore buying guide ›Free GuideHow To Test Jewelry At Home
A step-by-step walkthrough for checking a piece without damaging it.
Read the walkthrough ›More gold verification resources
Kits, supplies and checklists for buyers, sellers and estate lots.