What's A Karat?

Many people own gold that is 18k, or even 24k gold. But knowing how much your gold is worth comes in knowing what the “k” in your gold really stands for. The “k” that is usually found at the end of a number describing jewelry’s that contain precious metals stands for the word “karat”. The word Karat stands for the purity of the gold inside your jewelry. Pure gold happens to be the softest metal in the world, and thus not very ideal for most jewelry. Jewelry that is commonly found for sale and used by many people is jewelry that contains gold but is also combined with other metals and alloys for stability. That is why your Karat amount is important, because it is used to determine how much of your jewelry has been combined with alloys and how much is actually pure gold.

A lot of starting line gold is measured in 10k, while the highest end of gold is 24k. As you can see by the chart, a piece of jewelry that is 10k gold is about 41.67% gold, then the rest is various combinations of other alloys. However, a piece that is 24k gold is 99.95% pure gold, that is why these pieces are generally the highest in value!

We hope this chart has helped with useful insights on how you can learn more about your gold. And remember, just because your jewelry is broken or unwanted, doesn’t mean they still don’t have value. You can visit Cash 4 Gold at www.cash4gold.com and request your free and insured pack to send in your broken or unwanted gold for real, fast, cash.