QuestionMy husband just bought me a wedding set from a pawn shop as I had to sell line do to financial reasons.He told the woman he wanted white gold and she assured him that the set was intact white gold. However, the only stamp on the inside of the ring is a "S" and the bottom of the rings have a very light yellow tarnish to them. I think they may be silver because I thought white gold had the kt stamp?
AnswerI think the question was posted twice, but just in case, here is another reply.
Questions about coding inside rings are best referred to a jeweler since these are outside my area of expertise.
You could do a crude density test provided there are no stones mounted on the ring: Get one of those cheap hanging postal scales. Tie the ring from a thin thread, hang from postal scale and weigh. This is called "weight in air" or Wa; record the measurement in grams (if in ounces then convert). Now submerse the hanging ring into a cup with water. Make sure it does not touch side and bottom and is completely submersed (Of course, do not submerse the scale). Record this "weight in water" (Ww) also in grams. Calculate the density or specific gravity (SG) of the ring as follows (make sure units are in grams):
SG = Wa / (Wa-Ww)
Pure gold would have a density of 19. But rings are rarely pure gold, so values between 15 to 19 would indicate with a high probability that you have a gold ring. Pure silver would have a density of 10.5, with gold plating or some gold mixed into it probably a little more.
Another possibility would be to put the ring into some egg yolk (No kidding). A pure silver ring would be coated in a layer of black, a reaction caused by the sulfur in the egg with the silver making black silver sulfide. This can be removed with silver polish and some elbow grease. If it is gold alloyed with silver then you would get some strange discoloration of the ring, does not need to be black. The more silver, the blacker it would get.
