Featured gold / gold-filled hinged bangle

So, I got this bracelet, very pretty, I love these hinged bangles. It has no markings, and had a fair amount of green in the design crevices, so I assumed gold-filled. I have cleaned most of the greenies away, and am getting ready to sell. Thought I would do a gold test just to be sure, and it tests 10K very clearly. There are none of the spots of wear through that you often see under magnification with gold filled bangles.

So my question is, can solid gold get greenies in the crevices?
Also, how would you date this? I was looking at the morning glory site to date bangles, and it looks like some from the 1880s and also the 1930s.

 

You can get greenies on the alloy metal which the ten carat was mixed with. If that makes sense. And muck in crevices. Late 19th/erly 20th.

 

Thanks OBB.
I'm glad I thought to test this. I just assumed gold filled because of the greenies, and really, how often do you see these in solid gold.

 

The care that was taken to make sure the clasp is secure tells me it's a good piece.

 

Bravo bravo, swear I can see an aura around it !! what's the weight on this puppy ?

 

29 grams
I was getting ready to put it out in my mall showcase as gold filled. I test pretty much everything that is gold in color and not magnetic, but had in my mind that this had to be gold filled because of the greenies.

 

I'm a bit greenie

 

Agree on the quality. The chased work is very well done. I'd ultrasound bath that, or use an old toothbrush with vinegar.

 

I see many bangles like this with safety chains (and have a few!) and am curious to know what the tell-tale signs are that it is an older piece, from the late 19th C for example? I know there there are many revival ones etc. Keen to learn!

 

The chasing and engraving are a good clue: that acanthus leaf type motif and the background is typical. A double tongue clasp like that with a catch, as well as a safety fixed properly and the fact that the hinge is beautifully concealed. Shouts quality.

 

If it is gold-filled, it will scratch more easily. Learned that the hard way.

 

It's gorgeous!

 

What a very lovely bracelet. Most likely If there was greening in the crevices, it is going to test out as gold filled. I would go to extra lengths to test this before calling it solid 10K gold. Looking at the photos I am not so sure it is solid gold

I had one of these that was damaged that was testing the same way. It was what we called sketch on whether it was solid or not so I had my gold buyer melt it down to settle the debate. it had a final test weight of gold at about 4 karat or so. It turns out, it was gold filled. I threw in a pile of scrap 10 & 14 karat that I like to hoard up for these purposes and got it up to the minimum 8 karat they would buy. The net result was a couple hundred extra dollars in scrap value.

So if that helps out, at 1400 an ounce, mine had 200 bucks of gold fill.

Good luck!

 

I would be very careful about selling that as 10K. The Victorians made some really nice gold-filled that fakes out a scratch test sometimes.

 

Good points. I will keep it until the next time I go to my scrapper and have him test it with his machine.

 

I clean my gold-filled jewelry with silver polish and a silver polishing cloth.