Hi guys! It is a beautiful winter day at the atelier, the snow is falling and I am reading about gold. I want to share some tips with those of you who are not an experienced jeweler (or buyer of gold, hehe), but with those who just like it and wants to know more to make a better choice at the shop and not to be cheated.
KARATS
With the karats we measure the purity of gold. The highes purity is 24 (no more!) which means that 24 parts out of 24 (99.9-100%) are gold. Beware not to be cheated at some shops suggesting 25k or more.
24k (pure gold, 99.9-100%)
The pure gold (24k) has its natural yellow color. White, pink or green gold is NEVER PURE. The 24k gold is also quite soft and pliable, not much suiting for regular jewelry or setting stones.
22k (91.67%)
This gold contains 22 parts of gold out of 24 (91.67%). The rest will be silver, zinc, copper or others. This karat type is quiet popular for making jewelry but not setting diamonds and some other stones.
18k (75%)
This will be one of the most popular alloys for the golden jewelry, since it is firm enough to allow setting the stones and to be durable, as well, as lower priced. However, the colour will be a bit more pale compared to higher karat. This gold might be marked by 18k or 750, 0.75 to show the 75% purity.
14 karat = 58.3 % gold
12 karat = 50.0 % gold
10 karat = 41.7 % gold
COLOURS
Pure 24k gold can be ONLY yellow. Other colours are created by lowering the purity and adding more copper (pink gold), zinc and silver (green gold), nickel (white gold).