White gold and sterling silver can look almost identical, but their values are far apart. At today's prices, 14K gold is worth about $80.59 per gram as metal and sterling silver about $1.91, so the gold is worth roughly 42 times more by weight.
This is the most reliable check you can do at home.
10K, 14K, 18K, or 417, 585, 750925, STER, STERLING, or 800 on older European piecesPT950, PLAT, PT900Most white gold is plated with rhodium, which gives it a bright, mirror-white finish. Where that plating wears thin, on the underside of a ring or the edges of a band, a faint yellow or grey tone can show through. Silver has a softer, greyer white.
Silver tarnishes. Over time it darkens, especially in grooves, links and engraving. White gold does not tarnish. A white cloth rubbed firmly on silver usually picks up a grey or black mark; on white gold it stays clean.
White gold is denser than silver, so a white gold ring feels noticeably heavier than a silver ring of the same size. This works best when you can compare two similar pieces side by side.
Neither white gold nor silver should stick to a magnet. A magnet can show that a piece is plated steel, but it cannot separate gold from silver.
A jeweler can confirm the metal in minutes with an acid test or an electronic tester. An X-ray fluorescence (XRF) analyzer reads the exact composition without marking the piece.
In a photo, white gold, silver and platinum can look the same, even to an experienced jeweler. That is why the stamp matters most. If you scan a piece with GemstoneAI, read the stamp first: it tells you the metal, and the scan tells you about the stones, the style and what the piece is likely worth.
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Yes, by a wide margin. 14K white gold is worth about $80.59 per gram as metal today, against about $1.91 for sterling silver.
No. White gold does not tarnish, but its rhodium plating wears over time and a jeweler can reapply it.
Yes. White gold is a gold alloy, and where the rhodium plating has worn it can show a faint yellow tone. That is normal and means the piece needs re-plating, not that it is fake.