Whats the difference

[Flush Draw]

Between gold karats and karats in a diamond?
Is the number of karats in gold worth more if the numbers higher or lower?
example: 14 karats vs 18 karats.

[turtlefoot]

Welcome to the forum.

If I am understanding things, gold karats is a measurement of purity and diamond carats is the weight of the stone.

24 Karat gold is pure gold
12 Karat gold is 50% gold

Doug

[turtlefoot]

Here is a purity chart for gold.

Karat/Fineness Gold Content [Purity]

24 karat 99+%
22 karat/917 91.6%
21 karat 87.5%
20 karat 83.3%
18 karat/750 75.0%
15 karat 62.5%
14 karat/583 58.5%
10 karat/417 41.7%
9 karat 37.5%
8 karat 33.3%
1 karat 4.2%

When it comes to diamonds and other gemstones, 1 Carat = 200 milligrams

[Flush Draw]

Thanks that adds some perspective.

[vanstheman3]

Thanks for the info Turtlefoot I learnded something tonight...

[turtlefoot]

Originally Posted by vanstheman3

Thanks for the info Turtlefoot I learnded something tonight...

It helps to have a wife who works with some forms of jewelry and has friends who works with others. It was one of those "Honey, I have a question" moments.

[Flush Draw]

Turtlefoot, maybe you can ask your wife another question?? Since the percentages drop off on gold with the karats, as in your chart. What metals do they put or add to, say a gold ring that is 14 karat?

[007tallguy]

Originally Posted by Flush Draw

Turtlefoot, maybe you can ask your wife another question?? Since the percentages drop off on gold with the karats, as in your chart. What metals do they put or add to, say a gold ring that is 14 karat?

i can't give an exact answer to that, but one common metal they add is nickle and possibly copper. pure gold is quite soft and not very wear resistant, so they add harder metals to strengthen the gold and to reduce wear.
other metal/chemical additives can change the color of the gold... pinkish, bluish.
i've got 2 antique family rings here, both are stamped as being "solid gold" (which i've read is generally 18K), both give different readings on my MD and they're both different colors. one is a nice rich-looking gold color while the other is lighter in color, almost that pinkish color.

Pete

[dan]

You might find this interesting:

"Copper is the most commonly used base metal, yielding a redder color. Jewelry with higher gold content is more prone to scratch or bend.

Rose gold is an alloy of gold and copper, typically 18 parts gold, to 6 parts copper.

Blue gold can be made by alloying with iron and purple gold can be made by alloying with aluminum, although rarely done except in specialized jewelry. Blue gold is more brittle and therefore more difficult to work with when making jewelry.

14kt and 18kt gold alloys with silver appear greenish-yellow and are referred to as green gold.

White gold alloys can be made with palladium or nickel. White 18kt gold containing 17.3% nickel, 5.5% zinc and 2.2% copper is silvery in appearance. Nickel is toxic, however, and its release from nickel white gold is controlled by legislation in Europe.

Alternative white gold alloys are available based on palladium, silver and other white metals, but the palladium alloys are more expensive than those using nickel.

High-carat white gold alloys are far more resistant to corrosion than are either pure silver or sterling silver."

[turtlefoot]

GREAT answer Dan!

[KingTotsalot]

They are spelled differently....Karats relates to the purity of gold...the amount of alloy mixed with it ...as presented above.

Carats is a unit of weight....there are 5 carats to a gram...and 454 grams in a pound.

So the units represent two entirely different types of measurements.