Rare and Precious Gold and Platinum Buying Guide

Gold jewelry is very popular today and available in more styles, colors, and finishes than ever before. It is also a popular choice for setting gemstones. But it is very important to understand gold, and differences that affect price, in order to avoid confusion about the wide range of prices that seems to pervade the market for what may appear to be the "same thing." As with gems, wherever there are significant price differences there are usually quality differences. The key to getting value in gold is understanding what accounts for differences in quality and price.
What is gold?
Gold is one of the world's most precious metals. It is so soft and workable that one ounce can be stretched into a five mile long wire, or hammered into a sheet so thin that it could cover a hundred square feet. It is one of our rarest metals, and since pure gold doesn't rust or corrode, it can last forever. Interestingly, gold is present almost everywhere around us; in the earth's crust, in seas and rivers, and in plants, but it is very difficult and expensive to extract. Approximately two and a half to three tons of ore are needed to extract one ounce of gold.
Most gold used in jewelry is an alloy
Gold is the most popular metal used for jewelry today. The simple gold wedding band probably accounts for more of the world's gold than any other single type of jewelry. But pure gold is very soft so it is usually mixed with other metals to make it stronger and prevent it from bending too easily. When two or more metals are mixed together, we call the resulting product an alloy. Most gold used in jewelry is an alloy; and the metals added to the gold are also called "alloys."
What is a Karat? Or is it Carat?
In jewelry, the term carat (or, Karat) has a double meaning: carat is used as a measurement of weight for gemstones, with one carat weighing 1/5 gram; carat is also used in countries around the word to indicate the amount of pure gold in a piece of gold jewelry. In the United States, however, when using the word to indicate gold content rather gemstone weight, it is spelled with a "K;" hence "karat," to avoid confusion. Jewelry should always be marked to indicate how much pure gold it contains.
In the united States a karat mark, abbreviated to K or KT, indicates the amount of pure gold present in the metal. The word karat (carat) is derived from the word for fruit of the carob tree: in Italian, carato; in Arabic, qirat; in Greek, keration. The seeds of the fruit were used in ancient times for weighing gems. Also, the pure gold Byzantine coin cald the solidus weighed 24 karats. therefore, a 24 karat mark (24K or 24KT) became the mark used to indicate that something was pure gold.
To understand the concept as applied to gold, imagine that, "pure gold" is a pie into 24 equal "slices" or parts. Each karat equals one part of the pie. So, 24 KT would mean that 24 parts (out of a total of 24) are gold. In other words, 24 KT would be 100% gold; or, pure gold. In the 18 karat gold jewelry, 18 parts are pure gold and six are another metal (or, 18/24 = 3/4 = 75% pure gold); in 12 karat, 12 parts are pure gold, 12 parts another metal (12/24 = 1/2 = 50% pure gold). And so on.
I some cultures, 24 karat gold jewelry is required for certain jewelry pieces, but it's generally agreed that 24 karat, or pure gold, is too soft for jewelry use. In some parts of the world, 18 KT 0r 20 karat is preferred because of its brighter yellow color and because it is considered "purer" and more precious. In the United States, we prefer 14 or 18 karat gold because it is more durable than higher karat gold. We caution clients about the risk of high karat gold (20 KT, 22 KT, or 24 KT) for a gem-studded setting because prongs can be too easily bent open accidentally, resulting in the loss of the stones.
In some countries such as Italy, the percentage of pure gold is indicated by a number representing how many parts; out of a total of 1,000 parts, are pure gold. One thousand parts would be the equivalent or 24 karat; 750 means 750 parts of 1,000: 750/1000 = 75/100 = 75% pure gold. This corresponds to 18 KT.
A word about Russian marks
Old time pieces made in Russia were marked to indicate the content on its equivalent to a "zolotnik." A piece marked 96 contained as much gold as 96 zolotniks, which equals pure gold; 72 equals 18 KT (750); 56 equals 14 KT (585).
To be called gold, what is the minimum gold content?
Many countries have established minimum standards that must be met for items to be legally called "gold." The laws governing the actual content of gold required in piece of jewelry, however, vary. In the United States, to be called "gold," the item must be at least 10 KT; in England and Canada, 9 KT; in Italy and France, 18 KT.