What is a karat of gold?

Put simply, a karat refers to the percentage of gold used by the craftsmen when making your gold jewellery.

As with 925 sterling silver, additional alloys are added to pure gold to increase its strength and durability.

The higher the karat of gold, the higher the percentage of pure gold in the item of jewellery and the lower the percentage of alloys used.

Jewellers most commonly sell items of gold with 24 karats, 18 karats, 14 karats and 10 karats.

The actual percentage of pure gold in the item of jewellery is as follows:-

24 karat - 100%
18 karat - 75%
14 karat - 58.3%
10 karat - 41.6%

Items are usually hallmarked with the karatage of the gold, so for example 14 karat gold earrings will have a 14k stamp on them.

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