Greetings from Iowa,
I’ve finally got some money to pop for an electronic gold test kit
(the ones where you just place a probe on the unidentified metal, and
it tells you if it’s gold, and what carat the gold is)–no acid, no
needles, all electronic.
I’ve found a few, but I’m having difficulty understanding their
"accuracy quotient"
There are some (very few) wire-wrappers that use 14K 1/10 Gold Filled
– this would cause 10% of the weight of the wire to be 14K, and that
10% would all be on the outside. Hmmm, I’m wondering how it can test
past that much outer surface gold, or if it can.
There’s also one (although I can’t seem to locate it anywhere) that
claims to test for Gold Filled. Now, I’m wondering, would that be
"old" gold filled (which has no outer layer of pure gold, just a
blend that usually works out to 1-4 ct gold) or the “new” gold
filled, in which all the gold is on the outside/surface of the piece.
The prices in the typical major supply catalogs are outrageous, and
I’ve found one place on the web that sells them for a more realistic
price, but there’s no explanations, just a picture and a price 
So, can anyone out there advise me to the best brands, best pricing,
best supplier, how they work, how accurate they seem to be, etc.?
I’m in the market to spend up to $250 (but of course I’d like to
spend less 
I spend a LOT of time scavenging for old victorian
pieces, and the “old gold filled” thing would be quite an advantage
– not to mention that a few of them actually test for 9K as well.
Thanks in advance for any tips and advice,
Kristi Stutt
Wire Wrapping Etcetera