Buying fine jewellery online asks something of you: a little trust. You can't weigh the piece in your hand or hold it to the light before it arrives. So it helps to know what the experts know, which is the small marks and simple checks that separate solid gold from everything dressed up to look like it.
The good news is that real gold leaves evidence. Centuries before online shopping, the trade built a system precisely so that buyers wouldn't have to take a seller's word for it. Once you can read that system, you can tell a great deal about a piece before you ever spend a penny.
Here is what to look for.
What a hallmark actually is
A hallmark is a tiny set of stamps pressed into a piece of gold, usually somewhere discreet such as the clasp of a necklace, the post of an earring, the inside of a ring. It is not decoration and it is not the brand's logo. It is an independent certification that the metal is what it claims to be.
In the UK, this is taken seriously enough to be law. Any item described and sold as gold above a certain weight must, by the Hallmarking Act, carry a hallmark applied by an official Assay Office, which is an independent body that tests the metal before stamping it. The maker doesn't grade their own gold; a third party does. That independence is the whole point. A hallmark is one of the few claims in jewellery that doesn't rely on trusting the person selling it to you.
So the first question to ask of any "gold" piece is simply: is it hallmarked, and by whom?
Reading the numbers: 375, 585, 750
The most useful mark is the fineness number, a three-digit figure that tells you exactly how much pure gold is in the alloy, measured in parts per thousand. Pure gold is too soft to wear daily, so it is mixed with other metals for strength; the number tells you the ratio.
The ones you'll meet most often:
375 means 9 carat gold: 37.5% pure gold. It is the most affordable solid gold and harder-wearing, though its lower gold content makes it more prone to tarnishing over many years.
585 means 14 carat gold: 58.5% pure gold. This is the sweet spot for everyday fine jewellery: enough gold to resist tarnish and keep its warm colour, enough alloy to stand up to daily life.
750 means 18 carat gold: 75% pure gold. Richer in colour, more luxurious, a little softer. Beautiful for pieces you want to feel especially precious.
You may also see 916 (22 carat) and, more rarely, 999 (essentially pure gold), though both are usually too soft for jewellery worn every day.
The thing to understand is that these numbers are not marketing. A piece stamped 585 has been tested and certified to contain 58.5% gold. If a listing says "14k gold" but the piece carries no fineness mark at all, that is worth a pause.
The words that aren't quite gold
Much of the confusion in online jewellery comes not from fakes but from language. Several terms sound like solid gold without being it, and they will never carry a fineness hallmark, because there isn't enough gold in them to certify.
Gold plated is a base metal, often brass, with a microscopically thin layer of gold on top. That layer wears away, sometimes within months, taking the gold colour with it.
Gold vermeil is a step up: sterling silver with a thicker gold layer. Better, but still a coating that thins over time.
Gold filled bonds a more substantial layer of gold to a base metal. More durable than plating, but still not solid throughout.
Gold tone or gold finish contains, as a rule, no real gold worth speaking of. It simply describes a colour.
None of these are scams in themselves. They are legitimate categories at lower price points. The problem is only when they're sold in a way that blurs into "gold." If a piece is described with any of these phrases, you now know precisely what you're getting, and what you're not.
Simple checks you can do at home
When your piece arrives, or if you're examining one you already own, a few quick tests tell you a lot. None requires special equipment.
Look for the hallmark. Find the clasp, post, or inner band and look closely, ideally with your phone camera zoomed in. You're hoping to see a fineness number and, on UK pieces, the small symbols of an Assay Office. A genuine solid gold piece will almost always carry these.
Try a magnet. Gold is not magnetic. If a household magnet tugs at the piece, there is a magnetic base metal inside and it is not solid gold. (A word of caution: passing this test doesn't prove gold on its own, since some non-magnetic metals exist too, but failing it is a clear answer.)
Watch your skin. The old worry that gold turns your skin green is, with solid gold, largely a myth. Green marks come from copper in cheap alloys and from plating wearing through to the base metal beneath. Solid 14k and 18k gold very rarely cause it. If a "gold" piece keeps leaving a mark, that tells its own story.
Notice the weight. Gold is dense. A solid gold piece has a reassuring heft that hollow or plated items, for all their shine, tend to lack. It's a feel you learn quickly once you've held the real thing.
Why reputable makers want you to check
Here is the part that matters most, and it's the reason a guide like this exists at all. A maker who works in solid, hallmarked gold has every reason to teach you how to verify it, because every check you run comes back in their favour. Transparency costs an honest brand nothing and earns it trust.
The opposite is also true. The harder it is to find out what a piece is actually made of, the vaguer the description, the more the word "gold" floats free of any number, the more reason there is to ask why.
So treat hallmarks and fineness numbers not as fine print but as a buyer's superpower. They let you shop on evidence rather than hope.
A note on our pieces
Everything we make at Larisa Beaumont is solid 14k and 18k gold; never plated, never vermeil, and made to be worn every day and kept for a lifetime. We believe you should never have to take our word for what your jewellery is made of, which is exactly why guides like this one matter to us as much as they do to you.
If you ever have a question about the gold in a particular piece such as its carat, its weight, its marks, we'd genuinely love for you to ask. Knowing what you're buying is part of the pleasure of owning something real.
