THEIR PLANET: How to Tell If Your Gold Is Real (And Why "Recycled" Doesn't Mean Fake)

We get some version of this question a lot: “Wait, if it’s recycled, is it still real gold?”

Short answer: yes. Completely. “Recycled” describes where the gold came from, not what it’s made of. But we get why the question comes up since there’s a lot of murky language in this industry, and most people have never actually been taught how to tell real gold from the fake stuff. So let’s fix both of those things in one post.

First: how to tell if gold is real

You don’t need a lab to get a good read on a piece of jewelry. Here’s what actually works, and what doesn’t.

Check for a hallmark. Real gold jewelry is stamped with its purity. So look for something like 10K, 14K, 18K, or 24K, usually on the inside of a ring band or near a clasp. This is the fastest check, but it’s not foolproof on its own: cheap fakes can be stamped too. Treat it as your first clue, not your only one.

Try the magnet test. Pure gold isn’t magnetic. Hold a strong magnet near the piece and if it visibly pulls toward the magnet, something’s off. This one’s quick and low-risk, though some pieces have small magnetic clasps or findings, so test the metal itself, not the hardware.

Do the vinegar test. Put a drop of plain white vinegar on a small, inconspicuous area and watch what happens. Real gold won’t react or change color. If you see tarnishing, discoloration, or a chemical reaction, that’s a sign of base metal underneath a thin plating.

Look for skin discoloration. If a piece has left a greenish or blackish mark on your skin, that usually means the metal underneath a gold layer is reacting with your skin’s natural oils and moisture and that is a sign of low-karat or plated jewelry, not solid gold.

Skip the float test. You’ll see this one everywhere but it’s not reliable. Hollow pieces and thin chains can float regardless of purity. It tells you about the piece’s construction, not what it’s made of.

When in doubt, ask a professional. Jewelers can run an acid test or use an XRF machine to tell you exact purity in minutes, no guessing required. If you’re buying secondhand or vintage and want certainty, this is always worth the five-minute trip.

A quick note on gold vermeil

If you own vermeil (ours or anyone’s) these tests aren’t really about you. Vermeil isn’t fake gold; it’s a real layer of gold (ours is 14K) bonded to a sterling silver base. It’ll pass every test above just fine. The real question with vermeil isn’t “is this real,” it’s “how do I make the gold layer last”? With years of daily wear, that top layer can thin at contact points (a ring’s inner band, a bracelet clasp) and let a little silver show through underneath. That’s not a defect, it’s just what plated jewelry eventually does and it’s exactly why we’re publishing a full vermeil care guide next month.

Now: what “recycled gold” actually means

Recycled gold is gold that’s already been mined and used once. This means it can be pulled from old jewelry, electronics, or industrial scrap and then melted down, refined, and made into something new.

Here’s the part that surprises people: once it’s refined, recycled gold is chemically identical to newly mined gold. Same purity, same properties, same 14K or 18K stamp. Gold doesn’t degrade or “wear out” at the atomic level. A gold atom mined in 1990 is indistinguishable from one mined last week. Refining strips it back down to pure gold either way. There’s no such thing as “diluted” or “lesser” recycled gold and if anything, refining is where quality gets locked in, checked, and verified.

So why do we default to using recycled gold? Because the alternative of new mining comes with real costs: water pollution, land disruption, and heavy energy use, especially at small and unregulated mining operations. Using gold that’s already in circulation means we’re not asking the earth for more of it. Same piece of jewelry, same 14K stamp, meaningfully smaller footprint.

That’s the whole idea behind everything we make: genderless designs, recycled materials. The materials part isn’t a marketing line but it’s a sourcing decision that shows up in every hallmark on every piece.

The takeaway

If you’re holding a piece of jewelry and wondering whether it’s real, the hallmark, magnet, and vinegar checks will get you most of the way there and a jeweler can settle it for certain. And if you’re holding one of ours: it’s recycled, it’s real, and it’s stamped to prove it.

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