The carat is a way to measure limpidness of gold alloys. In Canada and in the United States of America it is spelled as karat. The word karat is drawn from the Greek language keration which means “the seed of carob” and also from Italian and Arabic languages. The seeds of carob were utilized as weights on accuracy scales as they were known for having a standardized weight.

There are different alloys that are used in jewellery for durable strength and the colour range as well. It is the karat age of the jewellery that determines the fraction of gold it contains. For instance, 24 karat contains 100 percent, 18 karat is 75 percent and 14 karat rounds off to 58 percent of gold.

When one purchases gold jewellery, one is advised to look at the karat mark. The higher the karat is the higher would be the value. In the U.S., 14 karat gold is the most common degree of fineness and any less than 10 karat would be officially traded as pure gold. There are countries that use lower karat ages as well. These are usually 8 karat gold or 9. Also, the “k” at the back ensures the authenticity of the piece.

If there is no other metal added with gold, it is said to be 24 karats and is the purest type of gold and also has fineness of a whole thousand. Sometimes 24 karat gold is also expressed as being nine hundred and ninety nine parts per thousand as fineness; it is expressed like this because getting pure gold with utterly no contamination is near to impossible and perhaps for legal purposes as well. This is applied to gold coins most of the time. Twenty two (22) karat is 916.6 fine, eighteen (18) karat is 750 fine, fourteen (14) karat is 585 fine and nine (9) karat is 375 fine.

The purpose for which gold is going to be utilized varies the usage of alloys, like for dental purposes and jewelry work amalgamation of silver, copper and gold is used, and sometimes nickel or zinc may be added. Platinum and palladium are generally added in dental gold alloys as they are more hard wearing and strong.

In America, they also alloy gold down to 10-karat, which is 10/24 gold, or 10 parts gold, and 14 parts other metals. At that stage, it is much harder than pure gold, but it is also more fragile than pure gold. As gold ages, and banged around, the daily wear, and tear tempers the metal, and hardens it, making it more brittle, or easily cracked.

Other metals which are used are generally copper or silver or together. For industrial purposes like in manufacturing circuit boards and pen nibs, fourteen (14) karat gold is used. It is also utilized in making of bracelets as it is used more and needs strength.

In Europe and Asia, people go for the colour, and richness of higher karat gold. Italian gold chain, even if made with 14-karat gold, it is often washed or plated with 18-karat gold. Many goldsmiths choose to work in 18-karat gold, because the finished product looks richer, as designer, and custom jewellery should look. It is also softer to work with and easier to shape around brittle gemstones like opal, and tanzanite. That is definitely worth thinking, when you are designing jewellery for yourself.

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