Gold

Gold is the most common and popular of the precious metals for most jewelry. Gold is weighed and valued by a system of karats, with 24 karats being pure gold, and is abbreviated after the value number as "K." Most people know that you can buy jewelry in 10K, 14K, 18K, and sometimes the full 24K (though this is rare). Gold is a very soft metal, so other metals are added into any jewelry of less than 24K, and typical alloys include zinc, silver, and copper.

When you're trying to identify how much gold you've got in a piece, you're going to follow the same guidelines as when checking silver, only this time you're looking for a 10K, 14K, or similar on the item. If you see certain letters after this value, such as EP, GEP, or P, it means that the item is gold plated and not solid.

Silver

Silver is a beautiful metal that is strong for settings, and is relatively cheap compared to the other metals. A quick way of identifying silver is to look along the inside of a ring, or along the clasp/end of a necklace or bracelet. What you're looking for is a little number like ".925" or ".999." This is the percentage of silver versus other metals that are in your item. Sterling silver, one of the most common types, is made up of 92.5% silver and 7.5% copper.

Platinum

Platinum is an incredibly strong metal, very hard to work, but very good for jewelry that's going to be put to the test. It's often used as the setting in gold and silver jewelry to hold diamonds and other valuable stones. The price of platinum fluctuates often for a few reasons: it's hard to work, hard to find, and Russia.

You can identify this precious metal by again looking on the inside of your ring, or near the clasps of your necklace/bracelets. What we're looking for this time is a little more complicated. Since Platinum can be made up of a few different metals from the platinum group, these pieces are going to be marked with a number, followed by an abbreviation for platinum such as Pt or Plat, then either followed by the abbreviation for another group metal, or a number and the abbreviation. This can continue up to three or four times depending on how many different platinum group metals are in your item.
 

For instance, if you have a ring that is 85% platinum and 15% iridium, then you could see any of these markings:

• 850 Pt 150 Ir

• 85 Plat Irid

• 850 Plat Irid

Or really any combination of the above to indicate how much platinum is in the ring/bracelet/whatever. Right now, as long as the item is at least 56% platinum it is usually considered good, and sometimes as low as 50% is acceptable.
 

Diamonds

Diamonds are a girl's best friend, and the arch enemy of a guys wallet. There are so many different cuts and designs that this rare stone may come in that it would take another article in itself to go into sufficient details for identification and accurate pricing. Here are a few quick guidelines, though, on what you can expect to sell and buy them for.

The easiest way to identify a diamond is to use a diamond tester, which is like a small electrode that you push onto the diamond surface. It reads green for diamond or orange for not, and it makes an annoying beep if you touch metal. I wouldn't recommend getting one though, unless you're going to be doing some frequent buying, selling, and testing, because this little baby can run you $90 or more. For a one time batch of selling, try calling local pawn shops and jewelers and ask if they can do some identification for you. Usually it's free, but you might have to shell out a few dollars to get a lot of stuff tested at once.

Non-Gold Jewelry Hallmarks:

Gold Filled is marked to show, by weight, an amount of a gold layer on the outside of base metal. For example, the mark 1/12 14kGF. This means the gold layer is 14k and is 1/12 the weight of the total metal in the item.  Vermeil is gold wash or flash over sterling silver.

How Pure Is Your Gold Jewelry?