333 and 375 gold: is 8 and 9 carat real gold?
Yes, 333 and 375 are real gold. 333 is 8 carat: one third pure gold. 375 is 9 carat: three eighths gold. Most of the metal in such a piece is therefore not gold, and you notice that in the value, not in the authenticity.
What do 333 and 375 mean?
In both cases the conversion is exact: 8 of 24 parts is one third, 9 of 24 is three eighths. The remaining two thirds or five eighths are silver, copper and sometimes zinc.
- 333 – 333 parts gold per 1,000 – 33.3 per cent – 8 carat (8/24).
- 375 – 375 parts gold per 1,000 – 37.5 per cent – 9 carat (9/24).
Where do 8 and 9 carat come from?
333 is typically German. In Germany it is a legal gold fineness, and it is found in a great deal of affordable jewellery from the 1950s to the present. 375 is the British and Irish entry-level gold; many rings from British high-street shops and souvenirs from the United Kingdom are 375.
In the Netherlands and Belgium 585 is the lowest legal gold fineness. 333 and 375 therefore receive no Dutch or Belgian hallmark. If you find it in a piece, it was almost always made or assayed abroad.
How do you recognise 8 and 9 carat?
By the mark, usually 333, 8K, 375 or 9K/9CT. Rarely by colour: 333 is often paler or slightly coppery, and tarnishes faster because it contains more base metal. If you are unsure whether a piece is 333 or plated, the eye cannot decide; that takes a measurement.
Low-carat gold is not fake. A 333 ring that has gone a little dull is not false for that reason. The fineness remains 33.3 per cent gold, and that gold simply has value.
How much are 333 and 375 gold worth?
As with any fineness: weight times fineness times price. A 15-gram bracelet in 333 contains 15 × 0.333 = 5 grams of pure gold. The same bracelet in 375 contains 5.6 grams, in 585 as much as 8.8 grams.
We buy 8 and 9 carat gold as a matter of course, on the basis of the measured fineness. Our current prices for both are on our prices page.
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Questions about 333 and 375 gold: is 8 and 9 carat real gold
Is 333 gold real gold?
Yes. 333 gold is 8 carat and contains 33.3 per cent pure gold. It is less gold than 585 or 750, but it is not an imitation.
What does 375 on gold mean?
375 means 375 parts pure gold per 1,000, or 37.5 per cent. That is 9 carat, the usual entry-level gold in the United Kingdom and Ireland.
Is 9 carat gold real gold?
Yes, 9 carat is real gold with a fineness of 37.5 per cent. In the Netherlands and Belgium it receives no hallmark, because 585 is the lowest legal fineness here.
Do you buy 333 gold?
Yes. We measure the fineness, weigh the piece and pay for the gold it contains, just as with 14 and 18 carat.
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Sources
Where you can verify what you have just read.
- LBMAThe London gold and silver price our daily rate is built on
- WaarborgHollandThe Dutch assay office that verifies fineness and strikes hallmarks
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