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Gold is the first thing that comes to mind when we think of precious metals. It has been used for thousands of years in making lavish jewelry and decorations. It is a luxurious, yet still affordable precious metal that is most commonly used in fine jewelry.
Karat gold
Pure gold is too soft to be of much use in jewelry making. Therefore, gold is mixed with other metals and then used to make jewelry. The resulting alloy is known as "karat gold". Karat is a measure of the proportion of gold used in the alloy, and is expressed in parts out of 24. It is not the same as "carat" which is used to measure the weight of diamonds and gemstones.
Pure gold is 24 karats.
18 karat gold is 18/24th or 75% pure gold.
14 karat gold is 14/24th or 58.3% pure gold
10 karat gold is 10/24th or 41.7% pure gold
Karat is usually abbreviated to K, so 10 karat gold is expressed as 10K gold.
Most countries have laws regarding what can be called real gold. For example in US, gold has to be at least 10 karat to be called "real gold". In Australia, Canada and the UK the minimum is 9 karats. In Germany it is 8 karats.
Higher karat gold is generally more expensive. 18 karat gold is usually used in high end fine jewelry. Gold above 18 karats is rare, although in some countries (for example India) 22 karat gold is used.
Gold stamps
Solid gold is often stamped or branded, either with its karat symbol or with the percentage representating the carat.
The stamps for gold are as follows:
417 - 10K gold
585 - 14K gold
750 - 18K goldYou may have noticed that the stamp for the 14K gold is slightly higher than the actual percentage of pure gold in that karatage. This is because in Europe there is a practice of putting a slightly higher percentage of gold into what we call 14K gold (ie they put 58.5% instead of 58.3%). That's the official version anyway - the unofficial version is that someone hit the wrong button on their calculator!
Gold Colour
Pure gold is always yellow. But because it needs to be mixed with other metals to be made into jewelry, these additions can be used to modify the colour of gold, giving us different white, rose and yellow gold shades. White gold, which was originally designed to imitate the very precious and expensive platinum has become very popular in recent years.
Caring for Gold Jewelry
Gold is one of the most inert elements on the planet. In its pure form it does not rust, interact with other elements or even dissolve in acid (this is one of those "don't try this at home" experiments).
However, pure gold is not used in jewelry. Karat gold can interact with elements and gold jewelry should not be brought into contact with corrosive substances, soaps, household cleaning agents, hairsprays, perfumes and similar substances. It is always a good idea to take off your gold rings and chains in shower or bath.
Also, remember that, even as karat gold, gold is still a soft metal. It is best to avoid situations where your gold items can be scratched, torn or otherwise damaged. Gold should always be cleaned with a soft cloth and never with an abbrasive cleaning agent.
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