About Gold Purity
The purity of gold is measured in karats. Gold in its purist state has 24 karats. However, as gold is considered to be a soft and malleable metal, it is combined with various alloys to produce a much stronger composite metal for use in jewelry. The most common gold karats produced in jewelry are: 18K, 14K, and 10K.
Various methods of testing exist in determining the karat value of a metal. At Jewelry Liquidation, we use state-of-the-art equipment that allows us to deem with over 99% accuracy the karat value of the metal. Our staff is highly trained and experienced in the standard operating procedures that we implement in our company to assess the value of jewelry.
Our Method...
Depending on the amount of gold sent in, we will use one or more of the following methods in determining the karat value of your gold.
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The scratch test is the most common method in determining the karat content of a piece of jewelry. A scratch test is done by shaving off, or 'scratching', a small amount of gold from the item, and beginning a series of chemical reactions using the sample to determine the karat value.
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X-Ray Fluorescence technology is the process by which an intensity reader records the X-rays from an excited metal bombarded by high-energy gamma rays or X-rays. This state-of-the-art machinery determines the karat weight of a metal with 99.5% accuracy, precision far superior than any other method of testing metals.
