MateriumPractical guides
How to tell if jewellery is real gold or silver
Markdown ↗Begin with readable marks, the item's construction and its provenance. A photo is useful for documenting those clues; a professional assessment or assay establishes composition when authenticity or fineness needs confirmation.
What to check yourself
- Photograph every readable mark near clasps, inside a ring or on the back of the item. Keep letters, numbers and symbols together instead of recording a number alone.
- Compare the complete set of marks with an official hallmark reference for the relevant country. A mark is a claim to investigate, not a chemical test of the object.
- Read receipts and manufacturer descriptions for wording such as plated, filled, vermeil or solid. Note separate stones, clasps and base-metal parts.
- Take the item and its documents to a reputable jeweller or assay service for a confirmed finding. Keep the written result with the item before making an exact resale claim.
Make the next step useful
A gold or silver colour does not establish the underlying metal. Keep an AI material estimate, a stamped declaration and a verified test result labelled as different kinds of information.
Explore it with Materium
Materium can help organise visual material clues and a saved assessment. Use it to develop the material question and keep observations together; use the appropriate professional evidence for a claim about precious-metal purity.
Keep exploring
Related material references
Sources and further reading
Sources checked .
Educational content prepared with AI assistance. Sources provide supporting reading, separate from the app’s generated assessment. Editorial and corrections policy (EN)