We have recently seen an increase of people asking to verify items they have purchased from a third party person. When you are buying jewelry, be careful! In many of these cases people are selling fake/counterfeit items.
Please know that we will always validate items for free, so feel free to bring something in to be verified before you purchase it! There is never any charge for this.
There are also lots of ways that you can verify items yourself, but none are as good as the acid test.
First, try using a magnet to verify the item. A strong magnet is needed, if an item that is expected to be gold is magnetic, avoid it. While there are a few manufacturers that let magnetic metal sneak into their alloys, you are better off just avoiding ANY jewelry that is magnetic.
Next, the markings. This one is harder for people that are not very familiar with jewelry and can be tricky. 90% of the fake jewelry we see in the store is marked 14k on just one end cap. Both endcaps should have some marking on it, and the catch/claw should also be marked. It’s what we call being marked 3 ways.
Finally, and even trickier, is the inspection of the item. Looking at the item many times you can see plating coming off, and inspect the other markings on the item. If you find 18k, followed HGE, this means its plated. Also Gold Fill items can also be tricky, as they state 10,12,14k, but have a fraction and GF at the end. Example: 1/20th 12K GF. The gold content in this item is very low and should not be purchased as true karat jewelry.
So again, we never mind checking an item for you for free if you buying jewelry from a third party. We want to provide this as a service to our community, so people can avoid getting ripped off. In many cases, if you just ask a seller if they would allow you to have it validated and they refuse or are uninterested, that is a major red flag!
