Gold is hot on the market right now. In fact, gold has always been hot and we assume that it always will be. If you’re in the market for a little bit of the glittery stuff, we recommend that you take the time to be sure that what you’re getting is just as much, if not more, that you bargain for.
Karats
A karat is the unit of measurement for gold. It doesn’t refer to the weight, but rather the purity. Inspect your gold piece for a karat marking to determine how much gold is in it versus other metals. Percentages are as follows:
• 24kt is 100% gold with no other metals included
• 22kt is 91.60% gold with 8.4% other metals included
• 18kt is 75% gold with 25% other metals included
• 14kt is 58.5% gold with 41.500% other metals included
• 10kt is 41.7% gold with 58.300% other metals included
• 6kt is 25% gold with 75% other metals included
You can see that there is quite a range of how much gold is in your gold. Since gold is a very soft metal, anything made with 24 karat gold is typically used for display or ceremonial use. It would not be functional to use 24 karats in a wedding rung as it would bruise or mar easily.
Highs and Lows
The higher the gold concentration, the higher the karat and thus the higher the price. Lower karats are less concentrated in gold and therefore will cost much less. Contrary to popular belief, the actual weight of a piece does not differ based on concentration.
When looking at a piece, if you cannot find a marking, you can always ask the seller about the karat measurement. In the United States, the minimum karat sold for gold is 10, so it can be between 10kt and 24kt.
At Heritage Estate Sales, we’ll do our best to help you determine if your found gold is real or just another fool’s piece. We do our best to know as much as we can about the items offered by the seller and we’ll pass that information right along to you. When you’re ready to buy, we’re here to help.