As mentioned in a previous post, “gold karat” is a measurement of the amount or purity of gold in your jewelry. “Karat” should not be confused with “carat”, which is a weight measurement used for diamonds. We are talking Karat here with a capital “K”. The first and easiest way to tell the gold content is by looking for a stamp in the piece itself. This is often found on the inside of a ring, the back of charms, the tag or clasp of a chain, or even on the wire of gold earrings. It can be very small and often requires some magnification to read (Especially if you are over 40 ;-). The most common gold karats in the US are 10k, 14k, and 18k. Often it is stamped in percentage or decimal, .417, .585 and .750 respectively. If there is no mark or it is warn away, then you need a jeweler or goldsmith to acid test your gold. Most local jeweler can do this for you if you are selling your old gold to them.
Every time I buy old gold jewelry from a customer who is half way informed, I’ll get a question like: “Is that price $900 an ounce?” Or whatever the spot price is around that day. Then my answer: “Yes, and No” the first thing most folks selling their old gold jewelry fail to take into consideration is that the jewelry is not pure gold. Here in the US, where I live, Most gold jewelry is 14 karat or 10 karat with some 18 Karat. Karat indicates the purity of the gold. 24 karat is pure gold. 18 karat is 75% gold. You can find the percentage of gold in your jewelry by dividing the karat by 24. So 10 Karat gold is 10 / 24= .417, or 41.7% gold, and 14/24=.585 or 58.5% gold. So the first thing to know when you are selling your unwanted gold is that it is not actually 100% gold. Watch for more post about gold karat!
Not getting ripped off. That’s the idea, isn’t it? Almost everyone trying to sell some old gold jewelry walks into a store or a gold buying party pretty much blind. I want to educate you through this blog to the facts of selling your gold. I have worked in a jewelry store buying gold from customers for the last 6 years, so I have a thing or two share. Bookmark my site and we will get going very soon.