Magnetic Jewelry Therapy

so if my gold bracelet is magnetic does that completely mean its fake?

i know gold isn't suppose to attract magnets. I had this ring that did not attract magnet but the pawn shop told me it was fake. can that mean that my bracelet, although it attracts magnets, might be real?

Public Comments

1. Your bracelet is not real.. Gold is not magnetic. Your ring was probably made of some metal that is also not magnetic, but not gold.
2. It may not be 100% gold, but it may have some gold. There are paints that have gold in them and some people will paint metals with this gold paint to give it the appearance of gold.
3. It may be gold-plated plain steel.
4. Well a pure gold bracelet (24kt) would not be attracted to a magnet. An 18kt or anything less would be. Depends on how powerful the magnet is/distance the magnet is away. Since a 10kt bracelet is approximately 41.7% gold, the other percentage being a mixture of (most likely) iron/nickel, yes, your bracelet could be gold, but not all of it.
5. it's probably plated with real gold on some sort of alloy. otherwise pure gold is not magnetic.
6. I've worked at a pawn shop for a little while now, and as you know, it doesn't benefit us to take in any fake jewelry. So, here's the deal with the "magnet test" from someone that actually tests gold on a daily basis! The magnet test is the very first test performed on any piece of gold that comes into the shop. The idea is that this test quickly reveals most gold-plated jewelry as being fake... and it does so very effectively. Now, one of the other answerers on this question claimed that "gold that is below 18K will be attracted by the magnet". He's absolutely wrong. We use a small, hand-held magnet and no gold 10K or above will EVER stick to it. So, if your jewelry stuck to the magnet, it is absolutely fake... no question about it. But the magnet test isn't a full-proof method of testing for fake jewelry. Some pieces of fake jewelry are made of a gold-plated, non-magnetic metal. Gold-plated silver and gold-plated bronze, for example, would not stick to the magnet. Thus, pawn shops will do an "acid test" of the jewelry after it passes the magnet test. The acid test involves making a scratch of the jewelry on a stone and then applying muriatic acid to the scratch mark in varying concentrations... 14K is used most often. With the acid applied, a scratch of genuine 14K gold will be unscathed by the acid. A scratch of 10K gold will get darker, but should still be visible. If the mark dissappears entirely using 14K acid, then the jewerly is fake. (If a piece of jewelry passes the 14K test, other acids of greater strength are used to determine if it's 18K, 22K, or 24K.) You may wonder: "but, if it's made of precious metal like silver or bronze, how can it be considered fake?" Well, the simple answer is that neither of these metals are worth anywhere close to what gold can fetch. Silver, for instance, is worth an astounding 98% less than an equivalent amount of gold. So, although silver and bronze are nice metals, they don't hold a candle to the value of an actual piece of gold jewelry.