Beginner’s guide to gold
Carat, thousandths, stamps and weight. Four ideas, and with them you understand every gold price you come across.
Carat is a proportion, not a weight
Carat says how many of the 24 parts of an alloy are pure gold. 24 carat is therefore pure gold, 18 carat consists for 18/24 – that is to say 75% – of gold, and the rest is usually copper and silver.
Do not confuse this with carat in diamond. There carat is a weight: 1 carat = 0.2 gram. Same word, an entirely different meaning.
In jewellery it is usually not the carat that is stamped but the figure in thousandths. 750 means 750 parts gold in 1000 – the same thing as 18 carat.
The stamps you will come across
If there is no stamp in it, that is no cause for concern. On old gold the stamp is often worn away, or the piece comes from a country where nothing was stamped. We then establish the fineness with an acid test or – with valuable pieces – with X-ray analysis. The latter is non-destructive: your piece stays intact.
- 999 – 24 carat, pure gold. Virtually only in bars and bullion coins.
- 916 – 22 carat. Much used in Asian and Middle Eastern jewellery, and in Krugerrands.
- 875 – 21 carat. Comes from Turkey and the Middle East.
- 750 – 18 carat. The standard for better European jewellery gold.
- 585 – 14 carat. By far the most common in the Netherlands and Belgium.
- 375 – 9 carat. A great deal of British work.
- 333 – 8 carat. German above all, and the lowest fineness that may still be called gold in the EU.
Mind what does not count. Stones, pearls, the springs of a watch, a steel clasp: they weigh in on the scales but they are not gold. We take them off, in your presence.
Working out for yourself what your piece is worth
The sum is always the same: weight × fineness × rate.
An example. A 14-carat necklace weighs 22 grams, the gold rate stands at 114.50 euro per gram.
- A fineness of 585 means 58.5% pure gold.
- 22 × 0.585 = 12.87 grams of fine gold.
- 12.87 × 114.50 = 1,474 euros of material value.
That is the upper limit: the value of the material itself. What we pay is that value minus our margin – and we show that margin openly on the price pages.
What to watch for before the valuation
- Do not sort it yourself. We do that at the table, per fineness. Sorting it wrongly costs you money.
- Do not polish anything. It yields nothing and with old pieces it can do damage.
- Bring everything, broken and incomplete pieces included. Weight is weight.
- Bring valid photo identification. Without identification we are not allowed to buy.
- Look out certificates and receipts if you have them.
- Recognising hallmarks in jewellery585, 750, 925, EPNS – an overview of the most common hallmarks and what they mean.Read on
- Beginner’s guide to selling watchesBrand, reference, condition and papers. What a watchmaker looks at, and why that sets the price.Read on
- Beginner’s guide to diamond and the four CsCarat, cut, colour and clarity – what each term means and how heavily it counts towards the price.Read on
Questions about beginner’s guide to gold
Is 14-carat gold real gold?
Yes. 14 carat means 58.5% pure gold, mixed with copper and silver for hardness. It is gold in the full sense, carrying a fineness stamp of 585, and we simply buy it at the daily rate. The alloy is there for wearability, not to make it something other than gold.
My piece has no stamp. Is it then worth nothing?
Not necessarily. On old gold the stamp is often worn away, and not every country stamped its work. We establish the fineness with an acid test or an X-ray analysis, in your presence and without damaging your piece. An unstamped piece counts exactly as heavily once the fineness is known.
What is the difference between 585 and 14 carat?
Nothing – they are two ways of writing the same fineness. 14 of the 24 parts gold is 58.3%, in practice stamped as 585. The one is the old proportional notation, the other the figure in thousandths that European jewellery has carried for decades. Both mean the same metal.
Do the stones in my ring count?
Not towards the weight of gold. Stones are assessed separately: diamonds of any significance we value on their own, while small decorative stones usually have no independent value. If you would rather keep the stones, say so before the weighing and you take them home with you.
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