Possible Gold Chain

[gopher]

Hi, a few months ago I found  this chain, it had an iron pendent and a bootleg clasp on it

I did an acid test on it and I think it was positive for 10k gold, but my friend who watched said he thinks it is gold filled

 

I didnt know what that ment, but it means there is a thick plating, so 5% of the weight is gold, instead of all of it like karat gold

 

I guess I should bring it by a jewler this winter, I brought it by a pawn shop but they were no help, I seemed to know more then them, at the time there was a bit of discoloration and they couldnt understand it was a stain from the rust of the iron pendent, now that ive handled it a bit more the rust stain is gone

 

Last but not least here is a picture of it

 

 

What does everyone think?? Gold?? Or gold filled??

[Joe Beechnut OBN]

Hard to tell going from a picture. Best take to the jewler. Not being marked is not a good sign but in today's world.. anything seems to go.

[Skull diver]

Ultimately I see no rust on the links.

It could be plated, however maybe because of the low light it does not have that typical shine.

A wire cutter might reveal a hollow link or some copper inside, and if you don't feel like breaking it, only a jeweler can reveal it.

[kac]

Plated chains should have some wear marks on links where you would see copper base plating or bubbling in plating if it's been in the ground for a while.

Acid tests are just a ball park and not always very accurate on metal type.

Looks good from a distance though 🙂

[Skull diver]

Sorry but i forgot an easy and old test in my previous answer...

Have You tried with a magnet to pass over the chain?🤔

[CPT_GhostLight]

Gold plated and gold filled jewelry will test positive with acid on the surface if there is no wearing off of the plating, so to get a more accurate acid test, you have to file deep to get past the plating to the base metal. Of course that destroys the chain so it's best to take it to a jeweler that has an XRF machine to analyze the composition without damaging the chain.

If you look at the individual chain links and the bale ring where the clasp attaches under a powerful magnifier and see a gap between link ends, then it is definitely not solid gold. However many plated chains do appear to have closed links due to heavy plating.

 

[schoolofhardNox]

I second Skull Diver's advice to put a magnet across it. Hopefully it does not stick. But if it does you will have your answer right there .

[NCtoad]

18 hours ago, CPT_GhostLight said:

Gold plated and gold filled jewelry will test positive with acid on the surface if there is no wearing off of the plating, so to get a more accurate acid test, you have to file deep to get past the plating to the base metal. Of course that destroys the chain so it's best to take it to a jeweler that has an XRF machine to analyze the composition without damaging the chain.

If you look at the individual chain links and the bale ring where the clasp attaches under a powerful magnifier and see a gap between link ends, then it is definitely not solid gold. However many plated chains do appear to have closed links due to heavy plating.

 

This^^
take a small triangular jeweler’s file and file a small “V” on one of the links.  It doesn’t have to be very deep as the plating would only be a few thousandths thick.  Then take a high powered magnifier like a 10x or 12x loupe and see if the bottom of that “V” notch you filed is a different color than the gold.