QuestionDear Thomas
Hope you are well and enjoying the good Summer weather.
I'm interested in some mixed media, and should like to use some gold and silver in some of my work.
How can you tell how many carrots are in an object made of gold if there are no hall marks?
I had a ring made of gold when I was in India and was told that Indian gold is generally of a purer quality. I took the dealer at his word, but for all I know it could have been something else.
Thanks for your help
John M Ross
AnswerJohn, we so liked the small portion of Scotland we saw on a trip 3 years ago, we determined the next trip if we can still manage it will begin there. We want to return and spend more time.
As for your desire to mix metals with other materials, the creative directions are certainly quite wide. Honestly, to determine the carat of gold(spelled karat in the USA)is not a simple do it yourself procedure. The most basic methods used tiny pieces of known carat brazed to an easily held piece of brass, a scratch stone and acids. The unknown metal is rubbed on the stone so a uniform mark is left. Then a known sample is rubbed beside the mark. Acid is applied and by watching the reaction you determine if the sample is of higher or lower karat than the known mark. Another known mark is used to be closer to the value of the unknown, etc. This is the basic "acid test" for gold and will approximate the quality of the sample. Electronic testers are also available as are much more sophisticated and costly hand held x-ray spectograph instruments. The acid test and electronic testers are something many jewelers will have and the testing will be done for a minimal price. The spectrograph testing is the sort done by companies dealing in metals in quantity every business day. With the price of gold so high, some scrap metal buyers are now purchasing gold and they are the sort of business with the more sophisticated testing device. If you can locate a scrap buyer who is purchasing gold, the items may be tested there.
Electronic gold testers and Gold Testing Kits may be found for sale on the Internet. For an occasional use of gold in your creative work, I suggest simply calling local jewelers to see which will test your metal for you and the price asked for the service.
An Indian woman who was a good friend while in the USA had two types of traditional Indian jewelry, one for formal wear and the other for casual. Both sorts look alike. The difference is the better jewelry was 22 carat gold and the other was gold plated, looking like the more valuable items in casual examination.
India has joined a world market in the manufacture and export of jewelry world wide. This means, jewelry is produced in carat(karat) values associated with the importing countries. These are generally styles of the modern design. The traditional items as sold in India are like those our friend had, either of quite high carat or gold plated. It would serve you well to have the ring tested. I would suspect in a ring for it to be gold but would not speculate at the gold quality.
John, best wishes in finding your ring is of a finer quality of gold.
God Bless and Peace. Thomas.
