Words of the Week
What is a Karat
Karat
There are many markings to be found on vintage jewelry - You can find designer names or logos, sizes, and the sometimes confusing gold markings. Are you confused? What is K or karat, a mark often found on gold jewelry?
What is K? Simply put, it stand for karat, which is simply a unit of measure for purity. It should not be confused with the word carat, which is abbreviated ct. and which applies to weight and is based on the metric system.
Gold is a very soft metal and in order for it to be worked into a piece of jewelry, it needs to be combined with another harder metal. The finished product will still be gold, but not 100% pure gold.
The term karat will tell you how much gold is present. With gold prices at an all time high, it's important to know how much actual gold is in the piece of jewelry. The difference in price between 10k, the lowest purity that gold can be and still be considered gold, and 18k, the highest purity of gold jewelry commonly available, can be significant. Gold designated as 10 karats is less than half gold. (Much older antique UK gold is marked 9K). Eighteen karat gold is 75 percent gold. Twelve karat gold is half gold and half another metal or metals.
Carats are something completely different. When you are talking about carats, you would be talking about the weight of a piece. One carat is 200 milligrams or seven-thousands of an ounce. It is often used to describe the weight of a precious stone such as a diamond or ruby.
So simply put, karat or K = purity and carat or ct = weight.
The easiest way to know the amount of pure metal in your jewelry piece is to look at the stamp that is inside the ring and divide by twenty four. The following gives an indication of the markings that one might find and what they mean for purity:
- 24K / 24 =100% pure
- 18K / 24 = 75% pure
- 14K / 24 = 58.33% pure
- 10K / 24 = 41.66% pure
Which should you buy? Well, the choice all depends on your lifestyle. The higher the purity, (24K) the more valuable the piece will be, BUT, the softer it will also be, so you will just need to wear it with more care. If you are tough on your jewelry, then a lower karat might be more suitable.
If karat and carat weren't confusing enough, there are other markings to be found on jewelry which is gold in color. What do the markings HGE, GF, GP mean? HGE stands for hard gold electroplate, GF stands for gold filled, and GP stands for gold plated. In each case, the jewelry would be mainly another alloy with either filling, plating or electroplating with a small amount of gold. These jewelry items are better than gold toned costume jewelry but no where near as valuable as pure gold in the karat form.
I try to offer accurate vintage jewelry information, but may make errors from time to time due to mistakes in research information.
