Understanding your Gold

Are you're trying to find out if your bracelet is gold or gold-plated,
The following article explains how.

Most gold that is used for jewelry purposes is, basically an alloy. This means that pure gold is mixed with other metals such as copper, silver or palladium.
Gold jewelry is measured in Carats, simply defined, the higher the carat rating the greater amount of gold in the alloy mix.

The following guide shows the standard carat ratings

24 carats is 100% pure gold (24 parts gold)
22Carats (22 parts gold plus 2 parts of other metals)
18 Carats (18 parts gold plus 6 parts other metals)
14 Carats (14 parts gold plus 10 parts other metals)
10 Carats (10 parts gold plus 14 parts other metals)
9 Carats (9 parts gold plus 15 parts other metals)

Due to the fact that pure gold is an extremely soft metal it can be easily damaged. Therefore, by mixing the pure gold with a harder metal, the gold becomes much stronger and more hard wearing. Gold alloy is less likely to wear down
as quickly as pure gold. This makes it a much more practical
choice for all types of jewelry.

Value

By mixing pure gold with other, less costly metals the price of the raw materials and manufacturing comes down. This will be reflected in the price of the finished item of jewelry. A 14 Carat chain will cost significantly less than the 22 Carat version.

How to find the Carat rating

Whether you're trying to find out if your ring is gold or gold-plated. Understanding the markings on your jewelry can come in handy. With the help of a magnifying glass and a little research, you can get a pretty good understanding

All items of jewelry including gold and silver should be stamped. In the case of gold two stamps are required. Indicating the carat content of the gold, and the makers stamp. Both of which must be clearly visible. This gold stamp indicates the carat content in one of two ways

Firstly by number, for example 18 carats abbreviated to either 18c or 18k.
In some parts of the world carat is spelled with a k
Secondly:By a three digit figure 750. This represents the parts of gold per thousand
or as a percentage.
Confused, the table below illustrates how this works.

22 carat (916) 91.6%
20 carat (833) 83.3%
18 carat (750) 75%
14 carat (585) 58.5%
10 carat (417) 41.7%
9 carat (375) 37.5%

It can be very useful when buying jewelry to make a note of these three carat measurements as different jewelers will stamp their jewelry in different ways. This is of particular important when buying jewelry from abroad.

Colour

The introduction of other metals into gold produces the different colours
to the standard yellow gold colour.

The following list shows these colours and what the metals are that create them.

White Gold: Palladium, silver, nickel
Red Gold: Copper
Green Gold: Silver

Which to buy

When buying jewelry, the choice is a very personal thing.
This will largely be dictated by budget, however there are
also other considerations.
Lower carat golds are harder wearing.
This means that they are an excellent choice for jewelry
that will get a lot of wear and tear.

Buying jewelry, although a pleasure, can sometimes be a daunting task.
We hope this article will provide a deeper insight into the wonderful world
of jewelry and give you some additional information to
help you with your next purchase.

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Al the best