What is 585 gold? Meaning, carat and value
585 gold is gold with a fineness of 585 thousandths: of every 1,000 grams, 585 grams are pure gold. That is 58.5 per cent, or 14 carat in carat terms. It is the most widely worn gold in the Netherlands, and yes: it is real gold.
What does 585 on a ring mean?
The number 585 is a fineness mark. It states how many thousandths of the metal are pure gold. A 4-gram ring stamped 585 therefore contains 4 × 0.585 = 2.34 grams of pure gold; the remaining 1.66 grams is other metal.
Carat and thousandths are two scales for the same thing. Carat counts in 24 parts, thousandths in 1,000. 14 carat is 14 of the 24 parts, which comes to 58.3 per cent. The hallmark says 585, and there is a reason for that.
Why 585 and not 583?
Exactly 14/24 is 583.3 thousandths. The standard has been rounded to 585, slightly above, so that an alloy carrying this mark always reaches at least 14 carat, even with the small variation that occurs in melting. The mark is therefore a minimum, not an average.
In the Netherlands and Belgium, 585 is also the lowest legal gold fineness. Anything containing less gold, such as 375 (9 carat) or 333 (8 carat), receives no hallmark here.
What is the other 41.5 per cent made of?
Metals that make the gold harder and determine its colour. Which ones depends on the colour of the piece:
- Yellow gold 585 – gold with silver and copper in roughly equal parts.
- Rose gold 585 – more copper, less silver; hence the red glow.
- White gold 585 – gold with palladium or nickel, often with a thin rhodium layer for the white shine.
Colour does not change the value. Yellow, rose and white 585 all contain 58.5 per cent gold. Only the gold content counts, not whatever else is in the alloy.
How much is 585 gold worth?
The material value follows from two figures: the weight and the fineness. You calculate it in three steps:
- Step 1. Weigh the piece in grams, without stones if they can be removed.
- Step 2. Multiply by 0.585. A 20-gram chain contains 20 × 0.585 = 11.7 grams of pure gold.
- Step 3. Multiply that by the gold price per gram. That is the material value; what a buyer pays lies a fixed share below it.
Is 585 real gold? And is the hallmark right?
585 is solid gold: not plated, not filled, but an alloy in which gold is the largest component. A hallmark is still a claim. Falsely stamped jewellery exists, as does plated work with 585 next to GP or GF. If you see such an addition, the piece has a gold layer rather than solid gold.
At XGOUD we always measure the fineness ourselves, with you watching. The valuation is free and without obligation, at any of our 45 branches in the Netherlands and Belgium.
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Questions about What is 585 gold
What does 585 gold mean?
585 gold contains 585 parts pure gold per 1,000, or 58.5 per cent. It is the same as 14 carat. The rest of the alloy is usually silver and copper, or palladium or nickel in white gold.
Is 585 real gold?
Yes. 585 is solid 14 carat gold, the most common gold fineness in the Netherlands. It is not plated material, unless an addition such as GP or GF appears next to it.
Is 585 gold the same as 14 carat?
Yes. 14 carat is 14 of 24 parts, which is 58.3 per cent. The 585 mark lies deliberately just above that, so that an alloy always reaches at least 14 carat.
How much pure gold is in 10 grams of 585?
10 grams × 0.585 = 5.85 grams of pure gold. With that figure and the gold price per gram you can work out the material value.
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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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