Gold

Gold purity (karat)

The percentage of gold in a piece of jewelry is measured in karats. Pure gold is 24K, however is generally too soft to work with and therefore is often mixed with other metals creating a harder alloy.

The metals used with the pure gold create different gold colors and shades. The higher the Karat is, higher the percentage of pure gold there is in the piece. It is important to note that pure gold or 24K gold is very soft, so it also follows that the higher the Karat is the softer the piece will be.

22 karat gold is composed of 91.3% pure gold and 8.4% other metals. This metal is too soft and not suitable for high end jewelry. Shiree Odiz produces only 18 karat gold jewelry as a perfect balance between quality and longevity.

18k gold is 18 parts pure gold and 6 parts other metals. This mix makes the gold jewelry 75% pure gold. This is often marked as 750 to indicate the pure gold percentage in the jewelry.

18 karat gold allows for the highest level of craftsmanship and allows for intricate designs. 14 karat gold is 58.5% pure gold or is 14 parts pure gold to 10 parts of other metals.

4 karat gold is often marked 585 to indicate the gold percentage in the piece of jewelry. 12K gold is a combination of 12 parts gold to 12 parts other metal making the piece only 50% gold.

10K gold is the minimum Karat that is still considered to be ‘gold’ in most countries. It is 10 parts pure gold and 14 parts other metals, that means that the piece of jewelry is 41.7% pure gold. 10K gold is often marked with 417 to indicate the percentage of gold in the piece.

The advantages of gold metal:
In addition to allowing for detailed crafting, gold is also the only metal that is non-reactive to any of the chemicals in the human body and it is also believed to have medicinal benefits. As a softer metal, any future alterations to the design, setting of diamonds or ring sizing are easily done.

Buying Gold Jewelry
Gold jewelry should be bought from reliable sources and should be stamped according to the purity of the gold alloy. Shiree Odiz ensures at least 75.0% pure gold for 18k jewelry by adding more pure gold to the alloy so that we can guarantee that our customers will always get what they paid for.

Golden Investment
Investing on gold jewelry may be a wise choice since it is most likely to continue to appreciate in value over time. Gold jewelry with a higher percentage of pure gold is always considered to be more valuable.

however as mentioned above, since a higher gold percentage produces a softer metal diligence and care is required to keep your jewelry as beautiful as the day you bought it. For more details on how to care for your gold, please click here.