Howdy Jim!
Just one other idea I'd like to pitch out there to you. You can get an acid test kit for about 15 bucks or so, comes with a scratch stone and 3 acids for the most popular karat weights. Mine has 10k, 14k and 18k acids.
If you had one of them around, you could test your gold and save some angst about whether you got the real deal or not. Gold electroplate won't show up like real gold. And it won't hold up to the acid test. Same goes for any other variant, such as Gold filled.
The acid test can give you almost immediate results on whether you scored gold, or just another interesting piece of costume. I say almost immediate, because I don't know anybody that carries that kit with them in the field.
Blessings,
M-Taliesin