18K Italian Braided Herringbone Necklace

[trdhrdr007]

Picked up this necklace at a local thrift yesterday. Tested it with my electronic tester and even made a small file mark in the part the clasp hooks to (see picture) to make sure it was good. Hallmarked HCT & researching I'm seeing a bunch of HCT items that are gold vermeil marked 925 but nothing marked 10k,14k, or 18k. Chain & clasp test good for 18K but without filing into the chain itself it's slightly possible to get a false reading. Anyone know anything about the HCT brand?

 

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[Beachkid23]

I think your good. At this point cutting wont hurt the value. I don’t think that style is worn very much anymore. Heck of a score right there! Even so, it looks solid!

 

[trdhrdr007]

I found a few necklaces online last night with the HCT hallmark that were 14k. That made me feel a lot better about the brand. I've got to get my tester out today to check out a bag of jewelry one of my estate sale contacts gave me. I'll test this one in a few more spots without filing anything. There have been a couple of this style in 18k listed/sold on eBay in the last 90 days that went for a good bit more than melt. Would like to give that a shot before I send it to the refiner. Either way I'll make a good return. Paid about 15% of melt.

 

[randazzo1]

Sweet. 16 grams!

 

[Drmad7]

Braided Herringbone! Good to know there have been some sales. I had heard that that style is a slow seller and I have a smaller version in 14K. I’ll follow your lead and try eBay first too! I would have called it “twist style” and could not think “braided”. Great score!

 

[zombieraccoon]

nice find ! when in doubt if you dont want to file, most high end jwelers cab do an electrical conductivity test, they put a couple dabs of gel on it and read through the piece with an instrument to determine its content.

 

[trdhrdr007]

nice find ! when in doubt if you dont want to file, most high end jwelers cab do an electrical conductivity test, they put a couple dabs of gel on it and read through the piece with an instrument to determine its content.

I've got a portable electronic gel tester. There are heavily plated or gold filled pieces that will cause it to show a false positive. I sometimes use a needle to "drill" through a piece to be 100% sure. Unfortunately that's almost as noticeable as filing on thin pieces. I retested this piece & am now satisfied it's 18k.

 

[ARC]

I've got a portable electronic gel tester. There are heavily plated or gold filled pieces that will cause it to show a false positive. I sometimes use a needle to "drill" through a piece to be 100% sure. Unfortunately that's almost as noticeable as filing on thin pieces. I retested this piece & am now satisfied it's 18k.

Good... you just saved me a whole lotta typing.

 

[ARC]

Great score BTW... although I cannot say how great...
for I know not what you paid for it.