Quality check by sample
The easiest way to check jewelry is to carefully examine the sample.
It should be on any product made of gold or silver. One drawback is that you can’t tell whether the gem set in a ring, earrings or necklace is real. What samples should be:
- for gold products: 585 (most often), 375 (low quality), 500, 750, 958 and 999 (bars only);
- silver: 925 (standard standard for jewelry), 750, 800, 875 (low quality), 960 and 999 (bars and coins are too soft);
- platinum - 850, 900 and 950.
In addition to the sample, precious items must have a mark certifying their quality. For golden options - a girl in a kokoshnik (it was introduced into use after 1994). If you are looking at an ancient piece of jewelry, smelted from 1958 to 1994, then a five-pointed star will be depicted on the gold.
Carefully inspect the contours of samples and stamps. They should be even. For gold versions, the stamp is placed in the form of a spatula, and for silver versions, an oval imprint is placed. If you decide to wear platinum, the indentation will be in the form of an octagon.
How to distinguish a piece of jewelry from a fake?
When buying jewelry secondhand, you can almost never be absolutely sure of its authenticity: according to the Russian State Assay Office, by 2014 the share of counterfeits on the Russian market was 30%
