You found a gold chain online or at a flea market, the price looks good, and now the question: is it actually gold? It's one of the most common things customers ask us, and the honest answer is that no single home test is perfect. Used together, though, five simple checks will catch nearly every fake you're likely to run into.
1. Read the stamp, then question it
Start with the clasp or the small tag near it. Real gold chains are stamped with a karat mark such as 10K, 14K, 18K, or the metric version: 417, 585, 750. Grab a loupe or use your phone's camera zoom. The stamp should be crisp and evenly pressed, not blurry or oddly shallow.
Here's the catch. Stamps can be faked, and "GF" (gold filled), "GP" (gold plated) or "HGE" (heavy gold electroplate) all mean a thin layer of gold over base metal. So treat the stamp as the start of the investigation, not the end of it.
2. Try a magnet
Gold isn't magnetic. A strong magnet, like a rare-earth one from a hardware store, shouldn't pull on a real chain at all. If the chain jumps toward the magnet, there's iron or nickel in there somewhere.
Two warnings. A chain that doesn't react isn't automatically gold, since brass and copper aren't magnetic either. And some real chains have a tiny steel spring inside the clasp, so test the links, not the lobster clasp.
Solid links like our 14K Gold 9MM Miami Cuban Link Chain should pass the magnet test cleanly.
3. Look at the wear and the color
Turn the chain under good light and look at the high-wear spots: the edges of the links, the area around the clasp and the jump rings. Plated pieces often show a different color underneath where the top layer has rubbed through, usually a silvery or coppery flash. Real gold keeps the same color all the way through.
Color itself tells you something too. 10K is paler and a bit less buttery, 14K sits in the middle, and 18K has that deeper, richer yellow. A chain that looks bright, almost greenish or orange-yellow, deserves suspicion. Also check your skin. A green or black mark after a day of wear usually points to a base-metal core reacting with sweat.
4. Feel the weight
Gold is dense. Solid 14K gold weighs far more than hollow or plated base metal of the same size, which is why a thick Franco or Cuban chain feels substantial in your hand. If you have a small kitchen or jewelry scale, weigh it and compare against what a solid chain of that length and width should weigh. Sellers who are honest will list the gram weight.
Hollow chains are a separate issue. They can be real gold but light and dent easily, so weight matters for value and durability both.
The 14k 5mm Gold Franco Chain 22” has the dense, substantial feel you want from a solid chain.
5. Get it tested by a jeweler
This is the one that settles it. A jeweler can run an acid test or use an XRF analyzer, which reads the exact metal content without harming the piece. It usually takes a few minutes. We'd skip the DIY acid kits: they scratch the surface, the acids are hazardous, and a test on a plated chain can give a misleading result if you only scratch the outer layer.
If you're spending real money, ask the seller for a written description with karat, weight and return terms before you buy. Good sellers don't mind the question.
A quick checklist
- Clear karat stamp near the clasp
- No magnetic pull on the links
- Consistent color, no different metal showing at wear points
- Weight that matches a solid chain of that size
- Confirmation from a jeweler when it matters
If one of these fails, walk away. If they all pass, you can feel confident. Buying from a store that stands behind its karat marks helps too. You can browse real 10K, 14K and 18K pieces in our chains collection, including styles like this 14K Puffed Mariner Link Chain.
A closer look at the 14K Puffed Mariner Link Chain. Standard shipping is free on U.S. orders, and a 10% discount applies automatically at checkout.