How do I know if my piece is sterling silver or solid gold?
Many pieces are marked as “Sterling” or “925.” Sometimes they aren't marked at all but can still be sterling silver. Sometimes, but not very often, something can be marked as sterling but is not. If you want to be absolutely sure, I recommend a testing kit. This can also test for gold content as well.
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Sometimes pieces can be marked “850” or “800” which means they are still silver, but not sterling. They have a lower silver content.
Gold is not always marked, so it can be good to have a testing kit for this as well. Sometimes the gold mark will be wrong i.e. marked as 14k but tests as 10k. This is not common. Gold can also be marked as “750” or “585” which is their gold percentage. 750 is 75% gold, or 18k, 585 is 58.5% gold which is 14k. Pieces considered to be “solid gold” can go as low at 8k. 9k gold, especially if they are marked 9ct, tends to be British made. The testing kit does not test for these amounts - it only goes down to 10k.
If you use the acid test kit, take care to keep it off your skin because it can cause a chemical burn. The kit comes with a neutralized.
If a piece is marked something like “14k HGE” that means heavy gold plated, or “14k GP” means gold plated.
If a piece has a mark that looks like “1/20th 14k GF” it means gold-filled, which is a different type of gold plating, usually over costume metal. These pieces tend to be quite old.
Gold vermeil is a type of thick gold plating over sterling silver and is usually unmarked, but the piece tends to be heavy.
One problem with the gold acid test is that gold-plated jewelry can have a positive gold test. If you want to be very sure, you can have a jeweler look at it, especially one that has a gold testing machine. However, if a piece is marked with gold content and tests postitive, it's a safe bet that it is solid gold.