You don't need much. A good scale and a loupe cover most sellers. The rest help if you want to test karat yourself or check coins.
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Weight is the biggest part of what your gold is worth, so this is the one tool most sellers should have. A kitchen scale isn't accurate enough for small pieces.
Karat stamps are tiny and often worn. A loupe is a small folding magnifier that makes them easy to read, along with maker's marks and signs of plating wear.
Gold and silver aren't magnetic. If a strong magnet grabs a piece, it isn't solid gold or silver. It's a quick first check, but a piece that doesn't stick still isn't proven real.
Keep strong magnets away from young children; swallowed magnets can cause serious injury. Keep them away from bank cards and medical implants.
The most common way to check karat at home. You rub the piece on a test stone and drop acid on the streak to see whether it holds up.
The acids are corrosive. Wear gloves and eye protection, work somewhere ventilated, and follow the kit's instructions.
Measures a coin's diameter and thickness to a fraction of a millimeter. Comparing size and weight with the official specs is one of the simplest checks for fake coins and bars.
Gives a karat reading without acids. It costs much more than an acid kit, so it's usually only worth it if you have a lot of pieces to check.
Once you have the weight and karat, enter them into the gold calculator or silver calculator to see the value at today's price.