You are standing at the table with all your gold jewellery or coins spread out in front of you. Now, look at those items to sell gold jewellery to a gold dealer in Melbourne. The problem is you do not know much about gold. Well, we are here to help you understand gold purity and its colour.
The Different Karats of Gold
Understanding 24K Gold
It is the purest form of gold used to make gold bullion, coin or some jewellery, it has no traces of other metals. Thus, gold buyers describe it as 99.9% pure, bright yellow. Therefore, you do not find a higher karat gold value than 24K.
You find it in gold bars and coins. Some people use it in electronics or medical devices.
More about 22K Gold
You find the gold in jewellery with 22 parts gold and the balance of two made with other metals. Only 91.67% is pure gold, while the additional 8.33% can be zinc, silver, nickel, or other alloys. The gold becomes harder to make your jewellery durable with the added metal. Still, using 22K gold does not work well with diamonds or other studded jewellery as its very soft.
We have 18K Gold
The gold is 75% mixed with 25% other metals from silver, copper, etc. You find it in studded jewellery or diamond jewellery. Therefore, it is less expensive than the different karats like 22K and 24K. The gold has a dull colour and simple style and is stamped 18Kt, 18k, or 18K. Or you find them marked with a 750,0.75 or stamped in a similar order to show that it only has 75% gold.
How The Fineness is Calculated
In the Western world, the karat you find expressed in fineness. For example, a 24K gold is 1000 pars out of 1000 pure or fineness 1.000. While 22k is, 22 divided by 24 and multiplied by 1000, giving you the fineness of 0.9166. When you look at a 21K, it is 21 divided by 24 and multiplied by 1000, leaving you with a polish of 0.875, and the same for 18K is 0.750 fineness.
The Colour of Gold
As determining the karat, the colour of the gold is essential:
· 24 Karat gold has a warm natural tone of gold, and you cannot change the colour without changing the purity to less than 24 karats.
· You can make other colours of gold by changing the alloy composition when you make jewellery. Like pink gold is made with copper, the same applies to green gold with zinc, while white gold has nickel.
· Lastly, you can add gold surface colour like electroplating but only with the surface finish as it wears out with time.
Final Thoughts
Now that you know the difference between each gold karat and how it is made, you will understand a bit more when you sell gold jewellery to a gold dealer.
