Home » Beading Definition: Karat
Karat
Karat is a unit for indicating the gold content of an alloy on a 0 to 24 scale. Pure gold is 24 karats, 18 karat gold is 750 parts out of 1,000 parts gold, and 14 karat gold is 585 parts out of 1,000 parts pure gold.
Below is a table of gold content in jewelry.
|
Karat
|
Thousandths
|
% Pure Gold
|
|
8K Gold
|
333
|
33.3%
|
|
10K Gold
|
417
|
41.7%
|
|
14K Gold
|
585
|
58.5%
|
|
16K Gold
|
666
|
66.6%
|
|
18K Gold
|
750
|
75.0%
|
|
20K Gold
|
832
|
83.2%
|
|
22K Gold
|
917
|
91.7%
|
|
24K Gold
|
1000
|
100.0%
|
- Copper - Reddens the alloy
- Silver - Greens the alloy
- Zinc - Gives a bleached appearance to the alloy
- Nickel - Whitens the alloy
- Palladium - Whitens the Alloy
|
