5 ways to tell real from fake silver or gold
Hallmarks
The simplest and easiest thing to do is first of all look for the hallmark. This is a set of small stamps imprinted into the jewellery by the assay office that certifies that it is solid sterling silver (or gold or other precious metal). Each item should have at least 3 stamps: one to certify the purity, one to signify the sponsor or maker of the item and one to mark the office that has certified the item. Some items may also have a fourth mark called the Common Control Mark if they are to be/have been exported.
The stamps of the four assay offices in the UK as well as the purity marks and an example of a sponsors mark can be in this PDF file: British Hallmarks
All solid silver items above 8g weight or gold items above 3g sold in the UK must have a hallmark, either from one of the British Assay Offices or by a recognised institution abroad. More detail on hallmarks can be found on the Assay Office website.
While it is possible to fake these marks, fakes can often be told apart from the quality of the stamp and the combination of marks used.
MagnetsBack to top
Another simple method of knowing if your silver or gold is real is to use a simple fridge magnet. Sterling silver should NOT be magnetic. Unfortunately many fakes are also made of non-magnetic metals as well, but at least this is a way of telling the more obvious fakes apart (try it on some stainless steel jewellery or cutlery to see the difference).
FilesBack to top
One more simple method that you might not really want to try is to take a steel nail file to the item. Since even sterling silver is relatively soft then it should file and scratch easily, whereas an item made of stainless steel will not. Obviously this test is pretty much guaranteed to damage your jewellery if it is real.
Testing kitsBack to top
If these methods are not enough, the next step would be to get a home testing kit (although an easier step is probably not to buy from that source). There are a variety of kits available which work either by using acids that change colour depending on the gold/silver content or by measuring the electrical conductance. Do note that generally these kits will test positive for gold or silver-plated items as well unless you file carefully over a small area to remove any possible plating - plating is usually between 1-3 microns (10 microns = 1 millimeter) thick so this is easily done.
Other methodsBack to top
Other forms of assaying, such as using X-rays and mass spectrometers have the potential to give even more accurate answers without any risk of damaging the jewellery, but require very expensive equipment and are generally only available at assay offices (so if you are really concerned, you can always take an item there for testing).
