How do karats in gold work

To have a firm grasp on what 24k gold is and what makes it special, you have to understand the universal grading system for gold. With this knowledge, you can get a real grasp on the purity and uniqueness of this metal — not alloy. Carat refers to the weight of a jewel, gem, or diamond, whereas a karat refers to the unit of gold purity.

So if you have a piece of jewelry that is stamped 14k, that means your piece of gold jewelry is actually 14 parts gold and 10 parts copper, silver or some other alloy. Gold is a soft, malleable metal. Because of this, you can have a lot of creativity with gold jewelry making and crafting. But, that also means that the jewelry itself becomes more malleable the higher karat weight it has.

Because of this, many jewelers have preferences for the weight of gold they like to work with, as well as their own techniques to accompany it. Working with pure, 24k gold requires its own special techniques. Additionally, the lower the karats in a piece, the less saturated the yellow color and shimmer is. Some jewelers and consumers also have preferences for the hue of their gold, and will opt for different karats to achieve a certain, less saturated color. Because of this, it has a uniquely rich, bright yellow hue.

This pureness and rare color makes 24k gold highly desirable, the most expensive, and most often used in fine jewelry. And even though it is only has two parts copper or other alloys, it does affect the color, taking away some of the natural luster only pure gold has.

Nonetheless, 22k gold is used a lot in fine and high-end jewelry making because of its high purity level. While 18k gold still has that warm yellow color, it is nowhere near as vibrant at 22k and 24k gold jewelry.

However, having a quarter of the jewelry made with other alloys does make the piece harder, which is why it is usually used on rings. But, because nearly percent of the weight of the piece is made up of different alloys, you can see a significant difference in the gold hue, shine and saturation. That being said, some people prefer this often cooler hue of gold and opt for it purposefully.

Anything less than 14k really starts to blur the line between fine and costume jewelry. It's the most non-reactive of all metals: it won't react with oxygen or most chemicals, meaning it won't tarnish, rust or perish. This makes it perfect for use in jewellery and high status objects which are intended to retain their value and finish indefinitely. It's also very pure in the form in which it's found naturally, unlike many other metals which can be difficult to extract from their ores.

As a result humans have been working with it for a very long time: gold is one of the metals of antiquity the others being gold, silver, copper, tin, lead, iron and mercury which were used by prehistoric humans. While we don't know the origins of its early discovery and use, we do have evidence of the Egyptians using gold as far back as BC.

Gold is also a very workable metal, which is another reason jewellers and goldsmiths love to use it in their designs. Plus it's also a truly beautiful metal, displaying a broad spectrum of colours depending on how it is alloyed with other metals.

The purest gold at 24 carat gold is a luminous, rich and warm colour, unmatched by any other metals. Finally, gold is relatively rare and often difficult to extract in large quantities, making it particularly precious and therefore expensive.

It's estimated that only , tonnes of gold have ever been mined globally: about enough to fit into a single Olympic sized swimming pool.

The short answer is: very! At the time of writing this article gold is 75 times more expensive than silver. This is the reason why we often use sterling silver, gold vermeil or gold filled in our jewellery designs, while only making small pieces or highlights with solid gold.

There truly is no such thing as cheap gold jewellery: don't let anybody tell you otherwise. If you've got some inexpensive gold jewellery and it keeps turning your skin green or black, then it's highly unlikely to be gold at all.

A carat - when used to refer to gold in Australia, the UK and elsewhere - is a measure of purity. The purest gold is 24 carats, but when it comes to making useable objects and gold jewellery, 24ct gold is generally considered too soft. This is why gold is often alloyed with a metal like copper or silver which makes it harder and better to work with and wear.

This alloying process reduces the purity, but makes the gold more useable. A single gold carat is 1 part of a possible So 18 carat gold is an alloy of 18 parts pure gold and 6 parts of another metal most often copper. So 9 carat gold has 9 parts gold plus 15 parts of another metal. You'll also see the word 'carat' used in relation to gemstones, in which case it's a measure of mass rather than purity.

A 'gold karat' is exactly the same thing as a 'gold carat': the difference is simply that in US English the word is spelled with a K instead of a C. And in the US you'll see '24K' used to indicate purity rather than '24ct' as in other countries. As we're in Australia we use 'ct'. The English have been spelling the word as 'carat' since around and this is the spelling that continues to be used in the UK, Australia and other countries. A karat , when used with gold, is a unit of purity -- karat gold is pure gold, but usually you mix gold with a metal like copper or silver to make jewelry because pure gold is too soft.

So if a piece of jewelry is made of metal that is 18 parts gold and 6 parts copper, that is karat gold. Where did such a funny unit of purity come from? It turns out that a German gold coin called a mark was common about a thousand years ago.

It weighed 24 carats 4. The purity of the gold in the coin was expressed in the number of carats of gold present in this carat coin. Sign up for our Newsletter!