Recognize Real Gold

There are different types of gold available in jewelry stores. If you understand what makes fine karat gold jewelry, you will be able to make a better informed decision when you buy gold the next time.

You normally hear the term karats when describing gold. A Karat is a measurement for the content or purity of gold. Pure gold is too soft a metal to make jewelry for everyday use, so the gold jewelry that you get from jewelers is never made of 100% gold. Besides, pure fine gold jewelry would be too expensive for the average customer.

Gold is mixed with other metals to make it hard and more durable. It also makes it less likely to bend but retains enough malleability to make jewelry out of it. This is called karat gold. Mixing also results in different colors of gold.

Karat is typically the content of gold present in gold alloy jewelry.

• 9 karat gold contains 37.5% pure gold.
• 10 karat gold contains 41.7% pure gold.
• 14 karat gold contains 58.5% pure gold.
• 8 karat gold contains 75% pure gold.

Indian gold jewelry is typically 22 karat or less. 18 karat gold is quite popular in other parts of the world. Diamond gold jewelry uses 18 karat gold; higher karat gold is too soft to set diamonds.

Karat gold is usually hallmarked to indicate what type it is. For example, 18k gold will be hallmarked or stamped as 18k. The stamp does not indicate the color of gold; merely the gold content.

Real gold jewelry is always referred to as fine gold or solid gold, which means they are not gold plated. 9 k, 10 k, 14 k, 18 k and 22 k gold are often referred to as solid gold. Jewelry that is gold plated is not considered solid gold.

Gold Color

The most common gold color found is yellow gold, followed by white and rose gold. There are other colors too but they are not very common. The color has no bearing on the Karat rating of the gold. This is because the alloy has the same amount of gold in it and gold is mixed with different metals to achieve different colors. If we were to make a generalization - the higher the karat rating, the brighter the color. Yellow 22 karat gold jewelry is a dazzling yellow, whereas the 18 karat jewelry has rather a dull shine.

Rose gold is made by mixing pure gold with copper. White gold is made by mixing pure gold with silver and palladium. It is also coated with a metal called rhodium. The rhodium makes jewelry very white. White gold jewelry normally needs to be recoated with rhodium once every 12 to 18 months. Your local jewelry store can do this for you at a reasonable price.

White gold tends to be a little bit more expensive that other gold of the same karat rating.

Hardness

Gold content also affects the hardness of the metal. 18 karat gold does not have a tendency to fade over years. 18 karat gold is ideal for a wedding band because of this very reason.

Testing Gold

The easiest and most reliable way to test if what you have is real gold is to take it to a jewelry store and test it. There are also gold testing kits available which you can use to test gold yourself, but the best to avoid any problems is to only buy gold from reputed jewelers and look for the karat and color.