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Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Today's word: ROLLED GOLD


Rolled Gold is another term for "Gold Filled," and they are one and the same. Basically it's a layer (or several layers) of real gold covering a brass base. Often, if testing a piece of rolled gold jewelry, it may turn up as real gold, because the outer gold layer is gold. To get to the bottom of it, you have to actually "get to the bottom of it" by filing down the outer layer and testing the base metal with acid (brass will turn green, gold won't), but this should only be done on an inconspicuous part of the jewel, so that it isn't marred.

4 comments:

Kat Barton said...

Very interesting. I always wondered about this. Some gold's on me will cause me to turn green. Must be that base metal.

Gaelle Kennedy said...

What kind of acid do people use? Presumably this is a professional test, not something you'd do yourself at the antique market?

Erica said...

Not at the market, but at home. See my March 12th Blog post.

Lucille said...

To Gypsy: Most gold is mixed with other elements to make it harder. It might be some metal in your jewelry that is making you allergic. Try wearing a higher grade of gold, like 24K.