Jewelry For Bridal - How to Understand the Number of Carats in Gold Jewelry

Everyone knows that gold jewelry is often described in terms of a number of carats but they don't know what this actually means. It is simply understood that the higher the number of carats the gold in a piece of gold jewelry has, the better quality is. The fact about carats is that they indicate the actual gold content of the jewelry. The higher the number is, the greater the actual amount of gold there is in that particular piece of gold jewelry.

So how to make decisions about jewelry for bridal?

The maximum number of carats

The maximum number of carats possible is 24. This means that if a piece of gold jewelry is described as 24 carat it is basically pure gold. This indicator is usually imprinted on the underside of a piece of gold jewelry in the form of a hallmark. Hallmarks themselves actually differ from country to country but the fact that they state the number of carats the gold jewelry has is the important part. Other hallmarks may indicate the year of manufacture of the gold jewelry and sometimes the area it was made in and often appears next to a makers mark. These hallmarks are not meant to be easily visible on the gold and will need a magnifying glass to view them. If the carat value of the gold is lower than 24 then it is measured in terms of how much gold there is in the jewelry.

Common values carats in Europe

The most common values in Europe are 9 carat, 18 carat and 24 carat. If the gold jewelry is hallmarked as 9 carat it means that there is 9/24ths of 100% gold in that particular piece of gold jewelry. This gives us a percentage of 37.5% which means that in a 9 carat gold piece of jewelry there is 37.5% of pure gold in the metal and 18 carat gold jewelry contains 75% pure gold. Some countries have rigorous standards for classification of gold in gold jewelry and do not allow even the slightest variation from these figures.

For example, in the case of pure gold, a number of countries will only classify gold jewelry which contains 100% of pure gold. Viking jewelry is famous for the highest gold content in jewelry. This figure is given some leeway in other countries, especially non-European ones. If you want to buy a piece of gold jewelry when you are on vacation in another country it is often worth checking what their tolerances are.

Pure gold jewelry or 24 carat gold jewelry is usually the same color wherever you buy it, allowing for variations due to small percentage variations. It isn't the strongest of metals and this is often why jewelers prefer to work with lower carat levels of gold. The rest of the alloy will be made up of stronger metals to help prevent the gold jewelry becoming misshapen over time due to its levels of gold content. The color of the gold can also be varied using other metals in combination with the gold. These include rose gold and white gold.