What Do the Different Karats of Gold Mean?
What do all the different Karats of Gold mean? In this blog post I’ll give some insight on the different karats (Purity) of Gold.
Definition of karat
: a unit of fineness for gold equal to ¹/₂₄ part of pure gold in an alloy.
So to break it down a little easier let’s use the example of Jewelry stamped 18kt also sometimes stamped 750 and you will know why in a second. Pure gold is 100% Gold called 24kt Gold, 18kt is 75% Gold. So how that’s calculated is 18 divided by 24 = .750. This means the piece of jewelry is 75% Gold and 25% other metals.
Most precious metals are marked with “Purity” Stamps or Marks as follows:
Common Gold Purity Marks
417 or 10KT (41.7% Gold)
585 or 14KT (58.3% Gold)
750 or 18KT (75.0% Gold)
Usings different Karats of gold for jewelry is done for several reason the top two are probably because of the softness of pure gold it makes it very hard to work with, 24kt gold typically doesn’t wear well over time when setting stones in it they usually become loose and also the cost of jewelry would be very expensive. Especially as of this post, Gold is over $1950 per Troy Ounce.
I hope this was helpful, and remember if your not sure if its gold just bring it in to our store here in Fairfield, CT and we will check it out for you.
