Information About Gold
The karat system is used to reveal the amount of pure gold found in an item:
It' a fact that 10 karat is less than 50% gold (41.7%, to be exact), meaning that 58.3% of it is made of base metals. Increased base metals make 10 karat have four main drawbacks over higher karats:
Perhaps the only advantage to 10K is that it is cheaper to make and therefore cheaper to buy. If the piece of jewelry is thick enough and well-made, then 10K is fine. But, to focus on 10K being just a smidge harder than higher karats is just irrelevant, given all the facts.
Written by Annette Long Covington
- 24 karat (24K) gold is pure gold - also marked .9999
- 18 karat (18K) gold contains 18 parts gold and 6 parts other metal or metals, making it 75% gold - also marked 750
- 14 karat (14K) gold contains 14 parts gold and 10 parts other metal or metals, making it 58.5% gold - also marked 585
- 10 karat (10K) gold contains 10 parts gold and 14 parts other metal or metals, making it 41.7% gold. 10k gold is the minimum karat designation that can still be called gold in the US (as set forth by the FTC in 1975) - also marked 417
It' a fact that 10 karat is less than 50% gold (41.7%, to be exact), meaning that 58.3% of it is made of base metals. Increased base metals make 10 karat have four main drawbacks over higher karats:
- More susceptible to tarnishing
- More vulnerable to problems with stress corrosion
- More likely to cause allergic reaction to people prone to base-metal allergies
- Less luster and a lighter coloration
Perhaps the only advantage to 10K is that it is cheaper to make and therefore cheaper to buy. If the piece of jewelry is thick enough and well-made, then 10K is fine. But, to focus on 10K being just a smidge harder than higher karats is just irrelevant, given all the facts.
Written by Annette Long Covington