Karat Introduction

Gold is a precious metal that is measured in karats. The most pure gold available is 24 karat gold and it is very soft. Generally, pure gold or 24 karat gold is not used to make jewelry because it is so easily damaged. To insure that gold jewelry is not so prone to bending or other forms of damage, the gold is combined with other metals, such as copper or silver. This process of combining gold with other metals not only makes the gold stronger it makes it less expensive as well.

The majority of gold jewelry sold in the United States uses 10 to 18 karat gold. It is illegal to sell anything less than 10 karats as gold in the U.S. The hallmark on a piece of jewelry tells you how much gold the item contains. A number, such as 14 followed by a k for karat, usually indicates the amount in the U.S. Other countries may use three numbers to indicate the amount of gold the jewelry item contains. The three numbers tell the parts per thousand of gold. For instance, 750 would mean that the gold item was 750 parts pure gold out of 1000, or in U.S. terminology the jewelry would be 18 karat gold.

The karat amount of your jewelry is important because it can affect not only the price of your jewelry, but the strength, durability and color of the item as well.