24k Gold Jewellery

24k gold jewellery is pure gold as distinct to 22,18,14 and less karat gold jewellery.

There are some important factors to consider when wearing 24 karat jewellery as well as the lesser karats.

Here is a breakdown of the karats

24K gold is pure gold.

18K gold contains 18 parts gold and 6 parts of one or more additional metals, making it 75 percent gold.

14K gold contains 14 parts gold and 10 parts of one or more additional metals, making it 58.3% gold.

12K gold contains 12 parts gold and 12 parts of one or more additional metals, making it 50 percent gold.

10K gold contains 10 parts gold and 14 parts of one or more additional metals, making it 41.7 percent gold. 10K gold is the minimum karat that can be called "gold" in the United States.

Where additional metals are used this is usually nickel, copper, zinc and sometimes silver or palladium. It is important to know this as some people seem to develop allergies to 'gold jewellery'. It is not the gold to which they have the allergy but one of the metals to which it is alloyed. usually nickel.

The advantage therefore of using 24Karat gold in your jewellery is that one does not develop allergies to it.

The disadvantage of course is that gold is a soft metal and wears away easily. Hence the addition of harder metals to give it some durability as well as the obvious cost savings.

So you have to weight up the pros and cons when it comes to what karat jewellery do you want. If you have no allergies to other metals then lesser karat will suffice, will give you a longer lasting jewellery piece and of course be a lot cheaper as well.

In this case probably 18 karat would be ideal. 14 and the lower Karats do not have much gold at all and their resale value is correspondingly less.

Keep this in mind when you are buying 24k gold jewellery and you are likely to get the jewellery you want at the price you want!