How to buy A Perfect Real Gold Chain?

A real gold chain is one of the common accessories found adorning the necks of both men and women. However, most of the customers feel that a gold chain is just a one-choice item, which it’s not. 

While looking for a Real gold chain, you are more likely to come across a wide assortment of necklaces of varying size, structure, thickness, weight, purpose, and so on. Hence, as a buyer, it’s better for you to have a clear-cut understanding of what you are going to spend your money on! To help you with this, we are presenting this exclusive guide on how to buy a real gold chain. So, let’s start.

Evaluate Your Real Gold Chain’s Strength!

You must be purchasing it either for daily wear or for flaunting it in wedding parties or anniversaries, right? First, let’s take the case of daily wear. In this, your top priority will be the strongest chain i.e. a chain with links like cable, Figaro, anchor, box, etc. The reasons for choosing links include:

• Each link is soldered individually,
• They will retain their flexibility even if made out of thick and durable metals,
• That being said, they are good at withstanding any activity like bending, twisting, knotting, etc., and
• In case of a broken link, it can easily be replaced with a new one.

If in case you’re purchasing a chain for special occasions, you can go for any chain with at least a standard strength that could survive the weight of a pendant.

Shall I Buy A Hollow Chain Or A Solid One?

Here’s one factor that plays an important role in determining the strength of your gold chain and it’s the structure i.e. hollow chain and solid chain. So, let’s know a bit about these.

Hollow chain

You can relate a hollow chain to a tube i.e. a hollow structure. It’s the least expensive of all owing to a small quantity of real gold being used. For example, a 14k hollow chain will have a small proportion of real gold as in a 14k solid chain. Being hollow from inside, these are lightweight and less durable. Thus, they need extra care for them to last longer.

Solid chain

In solid real gold chains, you will have two options:

Solid gold  

Don’t get fooled by thinking of a solid gold chain as a chain made entirely of pure gold. It means chains of different Karats like 10k, 12k,14k, 18k, 22k, 24k, and so on. Of these, try to go with either 14k or 18k as only these come with both beauty and strength. 

As real gold is extremely delicate and unsuitable for jewelry purposes, it’s mixed with other metals that provide the required strength. Hence, the more the karat value, the lesser the composition of other metals, and the weaker will the article and vice-versa. 

Gold plated

If you like real gold but not its price, you can try gold plated ornaments. In this, a non-gold alloy is dipped into molten pure gold to get its coating. The more the number of dips, the thicker the coating. A gold plated chain will cost you almost nothing compared to a solid gold chain.

Evaluate The Quality Of Your Gold Chain

Now comes the main part of a real gold chain shopping i.e. its quality test. As simple tests, you can use any of the following.

Magnet test

Real gold is non-magnetic in nature. So, if your gold chain doesn’t show any attraction toward a magnet, it signifies that it contains more gold and less of other metals like nickel or iron i.e. it’s real.

Acid test

Real gold is non-reactive to any acid. So, if you’re a gold chain doesn’t react with any acid like hydrochloric acid, sulfuric acid, or even nitric acid, it’s a real deal for you.

Hallmark

A hallmark is a series of characters engraved on the hidden part of jewelry indicating its purity. If a hallmark is not present on your gold chain, it might be a fake one.

Thickness: How Much Of It Is Suitable?

A real gold chain’s thickness is determined through a number of factors like how it will be used, will you put on a pendant over it or not, your hair lengths, etc. 

If you are purchasing a chain for daily wear, a chain with medium thickness would do the job. If it’s meant to hold a pendant, make sure to choose a thickness that can withstand the weight of that pendant. For wearers with long hairs, it’s advisable to try medium thickness chains as thin chains are more likely to tangle with your hairs. 

Last but not least, for men who wear chains just as a style statement, a thicker model is suggested, else a thin chain will suit you much for the sake of having something around the neck.

Pay Heed To Your Real Gold Chain’s Length

Apart from thickness, your necklace length also holds a superior value. You won’t tolerate your chain getting tangled being too long or choking you up being too small. Ideally speaking, smaller chains are meant for indoor wear, and a longer chain is meant for outdoor wear. You can further go through our article on Necklace lengths to have detailed knowledge about this topic. 

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