A guy at my school brought me an 18K ring yesterday that he said he bought from a guy on the street for $50 over the weekend. He brought it to me to evaluate it because he knows I detect and know a thing or two about gold. Although it looked good, the moment he put it in my hand it just didn’t feel to be the right weight and I told him so. I told him to try a magnet to it and see and he told me a bit later that he had, and nothing happened. I told him to bring it to me tomorrow that I would bring one of my powerful magnets and test it. Well today I brought the magnet and my digital scale to do a specific density test in water to rule out if it was plated over something other than stainless steel. He gives me the ring and I noticed the plating on it was terrible as it was already changing tone on the inside. I put the magnet to it and voila it sticks! Although he was already suspect of the ring he feels totally duped know. I guess the old adage “if it’s too good to be true…” applies here. I don’t understand how he would pay $50 for that when any pawn shop would’ve paid at least double if it were real. I guess he learned something.