How to Tell If Gold Is Real – What You Need to Know About Fake Gold, Testing Methods, and Trusted Dealers — A 2025 Guide

Real Gold or Fake Gold? Here’s Why It Matters

With gold prices hitting record highs, more people are buying, selling, and gifting gold than ever before. But one question keeps coming up:

How can you tell if something is real gold?

It’s a valid concern. The market is flooded with gold-plated jewelry, under-karat items, and counterfeit coins—many of them convincing enough to fool casual buyers. Online forums like Reddit are filled with stories of people who thought they had purchased pure gold, only to discover they’d been scammed.

Fake gold isn’t always obvious. Some pieces come sealed in what look like legitimate assay cards. Others are sold by sellers with seemingly good ratings on marketplaces like eBay. Visual inspection alone is no longer enough.

How to Test Gold at Home

If you’re holding gold jewelry or a coin and wondering if it’s real, there are a few basic ways to test at home:

Magnet Test

Gold is not magnetic, so if it sticks to a magnet, it’s likely fake (though not all fakes are magnetic).

Weight and Size Comparison

Gold has a very specific relationship between its weight and physical measurements. By using a digital weighing scale and a caliper, you can check whether an item’s weight and thickness match what you’d expect from genuine gold of that type. Because gold is extremely dense, it’s difficult to replicate both its weight and dimensions using less valuable materials without noticeable discrepancies.

Home Specific Gravity Test

This method aims to test the density of the material by measuring how much water it displaces. Using a digital scale (accurate to at least 0.01g), first weigh the item and record its weight in air. Then weigh it again while fully submerged in water. The difference between the two weights allows you to calculate the item’s specific gravity by dividing the original weight by the difference.

Specific Gravity  = Weight in Air / (Weight in Air – Weight in Water)

This table shows the approximate density of common gold purities, alongside other metals:

This method lets you get a ballpark figure for the specific gravity of your items. As long as they fall within the expected range, there’s a reasonable degree of confidence in their purity. However, it is not a foolproof method—it won’t catch gold-plated tungsten, internal voids, or counterfeit bars filled with other metals. It’s best used as an initial check, not a final verdict.

Using a Precious Metal Verifier

Unlike magnet tests—which are often inconclusive—or specific gravity tests, which can be messy, finicky, and still leave doubts, using a purpose built tool such as the Sigma Metalytics PMV -Original offers a fast, clean, and highly reliable alternative.

This device sends electromagnetic signals through the item to measure its resistivity—a physical property unique to each metal. That means it doesn’t just test the surface—it reads through the entire piece to see if the internal composition matches what it should be.

The PMV Original is widely used across the precious metals industry and is compact enough for collectors and investors to use at home. This method of testing can be done even through assay cards, thin packaging, or coin capsules—ensuring your metals stay pristine, while still verifying their purity.

How BullionStar Authenticates Gold

At BullionStar, we use industry-grade tools and rigorous protocols to help ensure that the bullion and precious metals we offer meet the highest standards of authenticity. Here’s how we do it:

X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF)

The Olympus Vanta GX is a benchtop XRF analyzer designed for rapid, accurate, and nondestructive analysis of precious metals. Utilizing high-energy X-rays, it determines the elemental composition of items, confirming purity and detecting any foreign metals or plating.

When gold is exposed to X-rays, microscopic particles are displaced from the surface. These particles emit secondary X-rays with wavelengths unique to each element. By measuring those emissions, XRF authentication identifies the exact composition of the item. This process offers precise, non-destructive verification of gold content.

• • Axon Technology™: Enhances XRF signal processing with ultra-low-noise electronics, resulting in higher X-ray counts per second and faster, more reliable results.
  • Gold plating alerts: Identifies fake jewelry by detecting gold plating and hazardous elements like lead or cadmium.
  • Built-in camera: Captures images of tested items, pairing them with results for accurate documentation.

Sigma Precious Metal Verifier – Pro

The Sigma Metalytics PMV Pro is an advanced resistivity testing device, designed specifically to provide the highest level of assurance for bullion verification. It goes beyond surface checks to assess internal consistency, measure density, and confirm that large-format bars are exactly what they claim to be

• • Thru-readings: To detect any internal tampering, filler metals, or layered counterfeits, readings must scan all the way through the item.
  • Built-in specific gravity check: Compares weight and thickness against expected density for gold and other metals, flagging anything outside the normal range.
  • The external bridge attachment: For thru testing of large bars, ensures deep verification of high-value bullion.

Don’t Take the Risk — Buy from Reputable Dealers

Buying gold from an unknown source—whether online, at a flea market, or even from a seemingly trustworthy seller—comes with real risk. You can’t test a coin on eBay before it’s shipped to you. And by the time it arrives, it may be too late to do anything if it turns out to be fake.

Even with a reliable home testing tool like the PMV Original, verification only happens after you’ve taken possession of the gold. It’s a great way to confirm what you’ve received—but it doesn’t protect you from buying something fake in the first place.

Buying from a reputable dealer like BullionStar gives you assurance from the very beginning.

At BullionStar, we source our products directly from some of the world’s most respected mints and apply rigorous internal checks before any item reaches our customers.

Whether you’re acquiring a 1 oz gold bar for long-term savings or a Gold Maple Leaf coin for collectability, you can count on both the quality of the metal and the strength of the process behind it.

You’re not merely acquiring gold; you’re securing peace of mind.