Here’s another delightful story sent in by one of our readers. She found this single bird earring at a yard sale and thought it might be silver or vermeil. So she took a chance and bought it for a buck. Here’s where it gets really good. She ran a magnet over the earring to quickly determine if it was plated. The bow at the top of the earring was attracted to the magnet. However, the rest of the earring was not magnetic. That’s when the acid test kit made its appearance.
Single Bird Earring Purchased for a Dollar
Since the earring is really heavy and yellow, our reader tested the tip of the bird’s wing for gold. The bird turned out to be 14 K yellow gold. This prompted the testing of the entire earring, piece by piece. Much to her surprise, all the individual pieces of the earring are 14 K yellow and white gold. It wasn’t a silver or vermeil earring after all. It was even better – GOLD! The only pieces that didn’t test as gold were the bow and the actual earring post. Even the little rings holding the items together tested as 14 K gold. PRETTY AWESOME!!! What a find for a buck. Gotta love it. I sure do.
Single Bird Earring Taken Apart for Precious Metal Acid Testing
Who knows what happened to this earring during its lifetime. Someone probably broke the earring and found a quick fix with the bow/post add-on combination (which color coordinates beautifully with the entire piece). I told you, people are resourceful when it comes to fixing a broken piece of jewelry they love to wear. It would also make a nice pendant for our reader. She could remove the bow and earring post and have a gold pendant to wear, since it is a single earring. This story further supports the mix and matching jewelry lesson taught in Chapter 4 of the “Cheap Gold and Silver” book.
Thanks to our reader for sending in this inspirational story for everyone to enjoy. Please be sure to send us your story and pictures, we would all love to share in your GOOD NEWS and learn a thing or two along the way.
Good Luck and Happy Hunting,
~Vicki Priebe
Author of “Cheap Gold and Silver”