How To Tell If Your Jewelry Is Genuine 14kt Gold

Karat or kt indicates how many percentage of pure gold is alloyed with other metals like silver,copper, zinc and so on.
Pure gold (99.99%) is generally considered to be too soft and pricey for daily enjoyment.
With this reason, it has to be mixed with other alloys to maximize its strength and at the same time, price can be lowered down as it contains inexpensive materials to target larger consumptions.
Only 24 karat is known as 99.99% pure gold.
18kt gold has approx. 75% of pure gold and stamped either "18kt" or "750" for European marking standard.
Likewise, 14kt gold has approx. 58.5% of pure gold and stamped "14kt" or "585" for European marking standard.14kt gold is most commonly used in US.
Finally, 10kt gold has approx. 41.7% of pure gold and stamped "10KT" or "417" for European marking standard.

The colors on gold totally depend on which alloy base metal is mixed with.
For example, if gold is alloyed with copper, you will get ROSE gold.
BLUE gold can be made with iron alloy and PURPLE gold is made by alloying aluminium, which are rare due to its brittleness. Alloying with silver alone produces GREEN gold. WHITE gold is made with palladium or nickel, which palladium alloys are more expensive than those using nickel.

After choosing perfect style on your particular occasion from your favorite jewelry store, the first thing you can do is to look for karat mark, which can be found mostly on end caps (where holding lock) for necklace, bracelet and anklet.
You will find 10kt or 417, 14kt or 585 and 18kt or 750 marking on it as well as, but not necessarily, trademark or company code and its country of origin.
For the rings, look inside the band, you will find quality markings. These markings are mandatory and if you don't see it, something is seriously wrong.
Although due to some special custom made work or resizing a ring will damage marking permanently. This is where reliable jewelry store you can trust comes in. because good jewelry store will not damage or destroy these markings when necessary work or resizing.

And secondly, if you have any doubt, let jewelry store manager test your item right in front of you. Most jewelry store will do this for you free of charge. There's testing kit that contains 3 small bottles of 10kt, 14kt and 18kt testing liquid (acid), in most cases, with flat stone like rectangle panel. They will scratch item of your choice on rectangle panel and apply appropriate liquid on it. Now observe it. What you want to see here is that scratch will remain nice and bright if item is right karat. If it is not right karat, in other words low quality, scratch will fade away and will even darken.

And finally, a rule of thumb that you always do, let them write down what you need on the receipt such as karatage or proper return policy. This is good way to protect your hard working money as a proof of quality promise from that store.

Did you lose one of your gold earrings? Did you step on your 14kt gold herringbone chain by accident? Or you don't use your anklet any more because it's not in style?
Now don't you throw those scrap gold away. Collect them all-it doesn't matter even if they are broken or pieces-put those in a box and wait until you finally get a nice weight of it.

Take them to the local jewelry store and ask them if they accept trade-ins. Most jewelry store take trade-ins because they need scrap gold to melt down to make other jewelry such as nameplate pendant, earring or whatever they need to customize.
Or you can even ask for cash. 10kt, 14kt, 18kt, 22kt or 24kt all gold type has value to turn into cash. Obviously the higher karat gold you have, the more cash you will get!
The small piece of tip that you should know in selling scrap gold is that you should do it at qualified jewelry store, where they should have second handed gold dealership, not all the jewelry store has this license, but many of them does. And also you will be asked for government issued ID such as passport and driver's license.

Other important fact you should keep in mind is, as time goes by, your gold except for 24kt gold, will depreciate, which means, for example, you bought a 14kt gold rope chain for $ 350 about few years ago, don't expect to get whole $ 350. Jeweler will calculate value on your gold, based on gold market, karat of your gold and how bad they need your gold (if they want to resell it or melt down). In other words, either trade-in or selling your gold, you'd better shop around. You will hear different dollar amount in different stores.

Have you ever taken a piece of jewelry to jewelry store to get it fixed? Were you completely satisfied with their workmanship? After time goes by, did you see changing color on the spot where they fixed? It's because they used lower karat solder. in short, if your item is 14kt gold, solder
gold should be at least 14kt gold. And make sure let them polish on the spot where they fixed. That'll give your jewelry appropriate look and also it'll protect your jewelry from chemicals used by jeweler while they were fixing.

Most jewelry stores and manufacturers are highly reliable in terms of quality. They all know how hard is losing their reputation by selling a lower quality item. The point is being well informed consumer will protect your interest and most importantly, you will discover wonders of jewelry with peace of mind.

14kt gold is the most practical precious metal in many ways. Not only the inevitable fact that you can keep the value for investment purpose, but also it's just perfect medium to express the irresistible beauty of all kinds, you can draw "the last supper" using computer graphics on it, and unlike 24kt gold which is too soft to use for daily enjoyment. and also, it's tough enough to wear it everyday and you don't have to worry about being tarnished like silver or poorly made 10kt gold.

Most importantly, prices. yep. i take it very seriously. Compare to 18kt, 22kt, 24kt gold and of course, platinum, 14kt gold is the most affordable and practical metal in terms of quality and value.
There are so many useful facts 14kt gold provide us.

So, Who are the fine artists to bring our world its wonderful beauty of 14kt gold?

The most trusted name--Netaya.com

My recommendation on my top of fine jewelry creators is netaya.com. I was surprised by their exceptional quality and service. and their unique designer made jewelry is simply big WOW. you can save up to 75% on wedding bands and eternity bands from netaya.com.

Customize it!--Jewelrybynet.com

Other big name in terms of fine reputation and quality is jewelrybynet.com, where you can customize your own unique jewelry and create it in your way. hear what they are saying,"from elegant classic design to the latest hip hop style"
Jewelrybynet.com is famous for customizing name jewelry. In short, it's personalized statement about yourself to the world. please find my other lens How to order personalized nameplate jewelry.

Wedding artisan creator---myjewelrybox.com

The most gorgeous diamond engagement rings and wedding bands in 14kt gold at reasonable pricing. Take a advantage of their liquidation center for great value!

I will keep updating with more recommended jewelry store and information.

So, What are precious metals?

History of gold-must know!

All about white gold

Tips on caring gold and fine jewelry-keep'em blinging

fun story on silver

Find out your finger size

Convert mm to inch

Chain length chart

All about birthstones and chart

Anniversary gift selection tips

Jewelry glossary

Hollow jewelry indicates those chains, necklaces, bracelets, anklets and earrings that are puffed by air, so that they look big and chunky, but due to it's light weight, are being sold at relatively cheaper prices.


Disadvantages by getting those hollow ones are, first, it gets squashed easily, of course, it also depends on how you take care it, but obviously, you get more chances to be ruined much easier than solid products. And second, it is basically made of thin layers of gold, once they are broken, it's hard to repair or solder properly. i'm not saying that it's entirely impossible to get it fixed. it's just that you will get same kind of trouble on same spot over and over again. especially, earrings, once they get squashed, sadly, there's no way to fix it. you just end up selling it cheap or trading those in.

They can be obtained by paying considerably lower price because of light weight, but you will find it not worthy of money since they get ruined easily.
So, It's all up to you, either getting hollow or solid, if you are person that handles your personal stuff very carefully, it may be a good option to choose.

The best way to clean 14kt gold jewelry or gold jewelry in general is to take them to your favorite jewelry store and let professional take care of it. Because there are few things you should keep in mind to keep your jewelry safe. For example, pearl is very sensitive and easy to get scratched with. Diamond can easily scratch your pearl. So, you don't clean diamond and pearl together.

The jewelry store has a polishing machine, which used for giving your gold metal part brand new look, although frequent buffing is not recommended because of the fact that, by polishing, you are peeling out very thin layer of gold jewelry. But few times in a year would be fine to make your gold jewelry new appearance.
And also, they use ultrasonic cleanser that cleans your gold jewelry effectively in liquid using ultrasonic technology.
In any cases that you have to pay a visit to jewelry store, make sure to take your need-to-be-cleaned jewelry together with you, so they can clean it for you. some stores do this for free to keep their customer satisfied, or even if they charge you a small fee-depends on how you deal with them, it will be definitely worth it.

If you really have to clean your gold jewelry yourself, there's better and affordable way than using commercial cleaning solution. It may damage your certain stone on your gold jewelry.
Simply soak your jewelry into warm soapy, mild soap or detergent, water for about 3 to 5
Minutes and rinse it in running warm water by rubbing gently with your eye browse brush to take care of stubborn build-up. And let dry in regular room temperature.
Voila~!, you got your jewelry fascinating look again. You won't believe this simple step will give your jewelry gorgeous shine!