When we hear, “Is this pure gold??” or, “Do you have solid gold?” we know that there is a customer in need of insight. Lucky for them, they are at Queen of PAWNS, where they’ll get straight answers. To help our customers with their upcoming Mother’s Day gift shopping, we compiled a brief breakdown of terminology for the different types of gold used in fine jewelry and watches.

KARAT

First, it is important to understand that the term karat describes a measurement of the purity or fineness of gold. Outside of the United States, the word is often spelled, carat. In the “Solid Gold” section below, we will discuss the different karats of gold produced by American jewelers.

PURE GOLD

The term “pure gold,” refers to bullion or gold in bulk, meaning bricks or coins. Pure gold is referred to as 24K (or karat), is quite soft, very dense and not practical in jewelry applications. The fineness of 24K can also be rated as 99.9% or .9999, amongst a few other similar descriptions. Pure gold or 24K is not 100% gold, but rather an alloy made with 99.9% of the precious metal and .1% of another metal. In this form, gold is traded on commodity markets. If that is to your interest, you can follow the market here, www.kitco.com.

SOLID GOLD

Since pure gold is so soft, other metals such as copper, silver, nickel or zinc must be melted with gold to make a final alloy strong enough to be used and worn as jewelry. The gold that we buy and sell in our stores is “solid gold.” So, if someone asks for solid gold, we may ask, “What karat do you want?” In the United States, gold is rated as 22K, 18K, 14K and 10K. Material with less than 10K is not considered to be gold in the U.S.

To calculate the percentage of pure precious metal in solid gold, use 24K as the standard, which again is an alloy of 99.9% gold and .1% of another material. If a piece of jewelry is 18K, then is it 18 parts gold and 6 parts another metal. This alloy is 75% gold in composition. A 12K piece is 12 parts gold and 12 parts another metal, making that 50% gold in composition. You can also use this formula to calculate composition, using 14K as an example:

14K is 14 / 24 = .58333 x 100 = 58.3% gold in composition

YELLOW, WHITE AND RED

When other metals are added to pure gold, the alloy takes on different colors. The fineness rating still applies, only the color varies. Yellow gold alloys, which we are most accustomed to seeing in the marketplace is a mix of around 50/50 copper and silver melted with gold. White gold is a result of the addition of silver and copper lends hues of red for rose colored gold. Zinc is sometimes added to harden the final product.

Stay tuned - next week we will let you in on a couple tips and tricks to determine the authenticity of gold pieces. In the meantime, don’t forget to visit any one of our showrooms and find a great ring for Mom with our 35% off ring sale. Happening now through Mother’s Day!