If you’re buying gold jewelry, you’ll want to know how to value it by weight. That way, you can get a fair price and avoid the jeweler’s markup.
Sadly, jewelers tend to use terms and units of weight that aren’t always straight-forward. This can make it difficult to calculate prices quickly and accurately.
Weight
Gold is a precious metal that comes in a variety of forms and weights. It can be found in bars, rounds, and coins in varying sizes and quantities. It is typically weighed in troy ounces and pounds, although there are also metric and fractional units of measurement.
The most common form of gold is in the form of jewelry or scrap. In order to determine its worth, you’ll need a reliable gold weighing scale. You can get one for as little as $5, and it will give you a clear picture of your gold.
For those with a bigger budget, you can invest in a digital scale that will show you the exact gram or weight of your gold. It may take you a bit of time to figure out what the scale is reading, but it will be well worth the investment in the end. The most exciting part of weighing your gold is that you’ll get to know the true value of it all!
Purity
The purity of gold is an important factor to consider when purchasing jewelry. This is because it can change the value of your purchase.
Pure gold is too soft and malleable to use in jewellery making, so manufacturers mix it with other metals to make the alloy more durable. This process creates a variety of different karat values.
20k gold is a combination of 18 parts gold and 6 parts other metals. This type of gold is a little harder than 24 karat gold but not as hard as 22k.
14k gold is a mix of 12 parts gold and 8 parts other metals. This type of gold has a slightly higher density than 22k and is also more durable.
23k gold is a combination of 23 parts of pure gold and 4 parts of other metals. This is a slightly harder than 24k and can be used to make rings, bracelets, necklaces, etc.
Fineness is a system of indicating the proportion of fine precious metal to other base metals in a coin, bar or piece of jewellery. This is used to increase the durability of coins and jewelry, alter colors, decrease costs per weight or avoid high-purity refinement.
Carats
Carats are a unit of weight for precious stones and pearls. One carat equals 200 milligrams or 0.2 grams.
This unit of measurement was developed in the early 20th century to measure diamonds. The name of the unit is derived from the carob seed, which was often used as counterweights in balance scales to measure gold in ancient Asian bazaars.
Karats (k) are also the unit of purity when measuring gold. Each karat represents a portion of the entire gold metal mix. For example, 14k is made up of 14 parts of gold and 10 parts of copper, silver or some other alloy.
When it comes to making jewellery, gold is usually mixed with other metals such as copper and silver to make it more durable or to change its colour. This process is known as alloying and is used to create white gold, yellow gold, rose gold, red gold and more.
Karats
The karats of gold are an important aspect to consider when selling or buying jewelry. Knowing what the karats of your gold are will help you get the best possible value for it.
Essentially, the karats of gold refer to the purity of the gold in your jewelry. The higher the karat, the more pure the gold in your jewelry.
A unit karat of gold is equal to 4.1667% of a pure gold alloy. This is why 24 karat gold is so pure and why 14 karat gold is not as pure as 18 karat gold.
10 karat gold is the least pure form of gold. This type of gold is used in chains, rings and other items that are not intended for luxury wear. It is also the least expensive type of gold. However, 10k gold can cause skin irritation if you are allergic to certain metals. It is also not very durable in terms of quality and luster.
