18k gold vs 14k gold bracelet

[Gmasbox]

Hi,

I have a problem. I received a 18k gold bracelet from my husband that he purchased while stationed in Afghanistan this past Christmas. (It also had rubies, sapphires and emeralds) I took it to two separate places to inquire about having a safety chain put on it. Both places quoted me the same price to do the work so I let the jeweler I normally work with do the job. The gold was a really rick color. I have other pieces of 18k jewelry and it matched those. The mark on the jewelry also said 18k.

Upon the return of my bracelet (10 days later) The color was different. It was no longer the rich gold color. It looked more like my 14k gold jewelry. I''ve had the piece appraised and the appraiser says that although the mark says 18k it really is 14k.

My concerns are that the color was drastically (noticably ) different when I picked it up. I had an appt. to have it appraised so I didn''t raise to much of a fuss at the time. (The bracelet was appraised at $2000.) I can''t see my husband spending that much money on something and then having it not be what it was stamped to be.

Is it a common problem that jewelry from overseas is mis-marked? I''ve heard of jewelry being copied before and I''m concerned I may be a victim of a switch here locally. My jeweler sent the piece off to be done this time, but in the past things were done on-site within a matter of days. I don''t know where to research this type of information. Could you direct me to sources I could use to educate myself better so I can discuss this problem with confidence that I know what I''m talking about?

thank you for your help!

 

[Ann]

I''m so sorry to hear this.
How could the bracelet be switched? It''s not easy to replace
an entire bracelet like a single stone.
I hope you get to the bottom of this.

 

[pyramid]

Just a consumer here and I think you have probably thought of this, but I wonder if the 14k gold was plated with 18k or 22k and it came off during the repairs.

 

[FireGoddess]

Gold from other countries frequently is a richer color, I''ve found. I don''t know why...but even things of the same karat quality still look different from Turkey vs the USA. I am wondering if they plated the bracelet after doing the work so the colors matched. If so, it could be easily buffed off. I would inquire about whether it was plated afterwards.

 

[mandyd]

Gold is a bright yellow metal and we in India and other asian countries like our gold to look like the real thing. So if you buy jewellery outside the western market, no matter what karat it is, the colour will always be a bright yellow. In the west however, this kind of colour is not desirable hence the burnished toned down colour of gold and the popularity of white or rose gold which to us asians is considered costume jewellery as the gold content in white/rose gold is vastly compromised. White gold is more than 25% palladium, nickel, silver and rhodium and rose gold is 25% or more copper. For us gold is a traditional investment and when we buy gold we want it to be as close as 24 kt as possible. Most of our jewellery is 22 kt whilst stone settings are usually 18k and occasionally 14k for tourists. However note that middle eastern jewellery is often 18k rose gold with more than 41% copper. Once the jewellery is made the final colour depends on the polish and this is where you can play with the finish and colour. So obviously when you bought your bracelet in Afghanistan it was polished to a bright 22 kt but when you added your chain the western jeweler modified the polish to suit the taste here and perhaps to match the chain so in my opinion no switch was made. Having said that, Afghanistan is not exactly a jewellery destination for tourists and they do not have a govt. standard in gold. So it is quite possible you were told it was 18k when in fact it is 14k. The difference is very small and you more than made up in the stones. If you must buy jewellery from non western countries when travelling buy only from countries like India, Thailand, Hong Kong, Singapore that are huge jewellery destinations and always buy from the most fancy store, usually located in a 5 star hotel. It may be more expensive than the local market shop but you will at least get the gold & stones you pay for. If you fall in love with something at a small store consider your purchase as costume jewellery and at those prices it might as well be. The only way to get great jewellery at rock bottom prices is if you know a local well enough to take you to their family jeweller, like me! Here is my Indian jewellery collection for those who missed my earlier posts
https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/3-42-h-a-cushion-square.47723/

 

[mandyd]

Here is some info I found. Nemichand of Calcutta is one of my family jewellers.

22/22k is a quality mark indicating the purity of gold. The first 22 signifies the "skin purity" and the second 22 signifies that after melting the quality of the gold is still 22K (22 Karat) or 91.66% of pure gold. This symbol or stamp is very popular in the gold jewellery business in Asian countries like India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Yemen, and Gulf Countries.
This practice was pioneered and introduced in the early mid-1980s by Nemichand Bamalwa & Sons of Kolkata, India, sparking a revolution in India as it forced jewellers to indicate correctly the after-melting purity, and heightened consumer awareness made it a most sought-after stamp or quality mark.