The Gem Gallery Blog

What is gold?

The word gold, used by itself, means all gold or 24karat (24K) gold. Gold has been a monetary standard throughout the history of mankind. Gold is a soft but heavy metal.

What is a karat?

Karat tells you what proportion of gold is mixed with the other metals. For example, 18 karat (18K) gold contains 18 parts of gold and 6 parts of metals. Therefore 14 karat (14K) gold is less valuable than 18 karat gold since it contains 14 parts of gold and 10 parts of other metals. The abbreviation of karat is K. or Kt. It is easy to confuse this term with carat described below in the gemstone guide.

What are the gold alloys?

Pure (24K) gold is soft and unworkable. To increase its durability and hardness, it is mixed with other metals which are referred to as the gold alloys.

What is yellow gold?

Yellow gold refers to gold that has been alloyed with a mix of 50% copper and 50% silver.

What is white gold?

Pale, almost silver-colored gold caused by nickel, zinc alloys.

What is pink or rosegold?

Gold with a sligthly reddish hue, caused by copper.

What is green gold?

Gold with slight greenish hue that has been alloyed with a higher percentage of silver than copper.

What is gold plate?

Gold plate refers to items that have a layer of gold placed to a base metal. Gold plating wears away with time exposing the metal underneath.

What is vermeil?

A gold plated product consisting of a sterling silver base coated or plated with gold.

What is the best gold for jewelry?

The design parameters of a jewelry piece, personal choice, cultural preference and the economics are some of the factors that may have an influence on deciding the karat of gold. Each has its pros and cons.

In Asian countries, much jewelry is made of 24K or 22K. The 22K maintains most of the bright rich color of 24K, with enough added hardness to make it durable. 18K is used around the world, and generally is considered to be sufficiently hard for use in making most jewelry. The commercial mass produced 14K is harder but the gold color is significantly less satisfyingly rich.

How do I determine the karat of a gold item?

It is difficult to determine the karat of a gold item by looking at it. An effective test is the streak method.