Understanding Gold Carats

If you’ve ever bought a piece of gold jewellery, you’ve likely heard the piece described in terms of ‘carats’. The term carat is used as a unit of purity for gold, however carats can also be used to describe mass, or weight of stones such as diamonds or other gemstones. Understanding these terms and measurements can help you determine the value of your gold jewellery.

Due to the soft and pliable nature of gold, it is often mixed, or ‘alloyed’, with other metals such as copper or silver to make jewellery to add strength or hardness. The amount of metal added to the gold is measured to determine the final carat rating of the gold jewellery. Therefore, the carats are used to describe the level of pure gold in a piece of jewellery.

Each carat represents 1/24^th of the whole, so 24-carat gold is pure gold, or 18-carat gold is made up of 18 parts gold and 6 parts of another type of metal, or alloys, such as copper (that is, 75% gold and 25% other metals) etc. The higher the number of carats, then the higher the gold content is in the piece of gold jewellery. This is used for both gold in the form of jewellery and also gold in bullion bars or coins.

It is standard practice for gold jewellery to be stamped with a marking that indicates this metal content. It will usually be placed somewhere inconspicuous on the piece where it will not be affected by size changes or near stones or designs.

Professional gold valuers will use certain measures to ascertain the purity of your gold pieces and determine its true value. At EzyCash Gold Buyers we provide fair and accurate valuations for gold jewellery, watches, diamonds and gold pieces and will offer a fair cash price in exchange for your jewellery.

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