14k Italy marked necklace

[Sutton]

Hello everyone. I am very new to treasure hunting. I recently took a job at a car wash and in my duties I have to clean out the vacuum system. Well today I found a gold necklace. It is 24" and is stamped 14k Italy on one clasp. It weighs 26.5 grams and is not attracted to a magnet. I have read a lot on the internet about these being fake but my question is I guess can you tell by the stamp if it is fake or not? In my opinion it looks lasered instead of stamped. If anyone has had any history with these I would liven your input before I go running into a jewelry store thinking I have something nice when I don't.

 

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[ARC]

ALSO...

The "markings" themselves appear "shotty"... err or "crude"... this is another "red flag".

 

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[Sutton]

That's for your input. I am learning a lot. But the chain is 5.5 or 6 mm links. I don't have a mm ruler. It's actually almost 1/2" wide. It is 24" long and when I put it on scales it weighs 26.5 grams even. It feels like good weight but I've never held gold in my hand before so I can't really judge it. But like I said it does weigh 26.5 grams on a scale.

 

[Sutton]

My red flags are the same as yours. I read the samething on several websites that most link rings are soldered shut and I noticed mine wasn't and that was my first flag. Then the markings looked a little weird to me as well.

 

[fongu]

Nice find and I got excited and thought a gold plated ring was real without checking it or the trademark. Lots of gold plated stuff out there, but would get somebody to test it with a kit. Welcome to the forum.

 

[UnderMiner]

Ring on the clasp isn't soldered shut, dead giveaway that it's imitation. Heart stopper without a doubt though! Must have been a fun find!

 

[ScubaDetector]

The reason some people at jewelry stores do not test items is very simple. When they handle gold day after day and hour after hour they get to know the feel of it instantly. I used to take gold to one and she could tell my unmarked pieces without testing if they were gold or not. Testing only for carat value

I wish you success on your future hunts. I bet you find a lot of coins and some paper money in those vacuums. Do you ever find silver and gold rings?

 

[jodan3399]

Get a kit and test it, both the chain and the clasp.

It "looks" gold plated, but what makes it look that way to me is the clasp and jump ring. The chain "might" be gold, the clasp could be a cheap plated fix from another necklace for one that was broken...it looks a bit too small for the necklace and out of place. But that's just what I see.

I never go by the clasp alone, I look at the piece as a whole, and test both if something looks "off". Don't get your hopes up, but don't write it off as junk yet.

Plated or not, that's a nice find.

 

[testing123]

Is the clasp itself stamped? It should be on that little thing that moves to let the chain in

 

[Turbo21]

My red flags are the same as yours. I read the samething on several websites that most link rings are soldered shut and I noticed mine wasn't and that was my first flag. Then the markings looked a little weird to me as well.

I am wearing a 14k gold chain right now that doesn't have the links soldered. And I run into them all the time where they are that way. It is not really a good identifier for gold chains. Some companies have them break away on purpose instead of having the actual chain break. Cheaper and easier to fix a ring then the whole chain

Bob

 

[Deft Tones]

When I was in High School and working at a carwash the guys would fight over who gets to vacuum. That guy was the point man searching for drugs, jewelry, or money.

Ashtray full of change....whoops!....sucked it all up.

Actually had a customer complain to management about some missing cocaine. The look on his face when the manager, after taking a heated butt chewing, calmly replied, "would you like me to call the police so you may file a police report, sir?"

 

[heepiepow]

That looks exactly the same style/color (at least based on a photo) of my first "gold" find which turned out to be fake.

One method you might try is getting a pretty accurate beaker or other measuring cup/device. Fill with water, measure, pop the chain in, then measure the difference to get the chain's volume. Gold is very heavy, so if the scale reading doesn't match what it should for the volume, at least you'll know it isn't solid.

 

[mariposagold]

Update on the chain. I took it to a local jewelry store. The woman took one look at it and said it was gold plated. Oh well. Better luck next time

Don't feel bad, I found one just like it. Ticked me off a bit. but you keep cleaning out the vacuum system. That's an awesome place to hunt. dirty, but Awesome.

 

[Back-of-the-boat]

There was a few post's on here a year or more ago about a guy going around to the car washes (self service ones) and those that didn't have locks he would empty the contents and screen it and he was finding rings, coins, necklaces and all kinds of what not.People just shove the hose under the seat and zip there goes the ring they forgot they dropped.Tried it myself and got quite a bit of change but car washes are all 40 miles from me so haven't done that in awhile.