999 gold: 24 carat pure gold

Investment gold bar with 999.9 gold content © Own image

Pure gold has 24 carats - that is, 24/24 parts by weight of gold - and thus a fineness of 999.9‰ (999.9 thousand parts). Some mints and mints, such as the Royal Canadian Mint, even specify 999.99‰ ("five nine") as the fineness. However, any gold with a fineness above 99.9% is already called fine gold.

Because of its physical properties, pure gold is mainly used for investment gold, i.e. coins, bars or medals. This is because it is too soft for jewelry: 24-karat gold jewelry would scratch very easily.

24 carat & 999 gold: Two designations for pure gold

Both 24 karat and 999 denote a fine gold alloy with the highest possible gold content. This means 999 gold is equivalent to 24 karat gold.

The indication in carats is rather historical and is nowadays only used in connection with gold jewelry and watches. The unit of measurement carat indicates the gold content of an alloy in 1/24 parts.

The fineness of a gold alloy in parts per thousand (parts per thousand) is now prescribed by law in the jewelry sector, and the fineness is also increasingly gaining ground against the carat designation in linguistic usage. In the case of investment gold, the fineness is usually indicated exclusively in fines.

999.9 fine gold as investment

Those who want to buy pure gold can choose from a wide variety of bullion coins and bars. All renowned bar manufacturers produce gold bars exclusively from 999.9‰ fine gold. This fineness has become the standard, even if a fineness of 995‰ would be sufficient for LBM certification. In any case, we recommend gold bars from an LBMA Good-Delivery manufacturer.

There is a wide selection of fine gold bullion coins. Recommended are the common bullion coins, first and foremost the Mapfe Leaf and Vienna Philharmonic coins, which have a gold content of 999.9‰.

Maple Leaf | 1 Ounce | Gold Coin 2.127,00 

Not all investment gold coins are made of pure gold. Many well-known gold coins consist of coin gold alloy with lower gold content: Austrian ducats have a gold content of 98.6%, the Krugerrand coin only 91.6% gold.

24 carat pure gold jewelry

Gold is a relatively soft metal. For jewelry, for example, pure fine gold would be far too unstable, which is why the precious metal for gold jewelry is always alloyed with other metals such as copper or silver.

Gold jewelry is therefore rarely made of pure gold, but almost always of a gold alloy.

24 carat jewelry is common as mitgilft in India & Arabia.

High-quality jewelry is usually made of 18 carat (750) gold, but the most common alloy in the jewelry sector is 14 carat or 585 gold. Depending on the metals added, it comes in different color variations from rich yellow gold, to red gold, to white gold. The cheaper 333 jewelry has only a gold content of 33.3% and may not be sold in Austria under the name "gold jewelry".

Only in the Indian and Arabic regions is jewelry with higher carat numbers also common. Even 24 carat gold jewelry is produced there, but it is usually only worn on the wedding day and is intended as a dowry or financial security.

Gold price: How much is 24 carat gold worth?

The price for pieces with 24 carat gold or fine gold with a purity 999.9‰ is oriented by the LBMA gold price of the London Bullion Market Association. Currently, 1 ounce of fine gold is traded there at the following price:

LBMA Gold Spot

Current spot price on the world market (price per troy ounce)

Preise zuletzt aktualisiert am 29. March 2024, 15:51 Uhr

Because, in addition to the pure material value, costs for production and manufacturing, as well as melting and recycling costs must also be calculated into the prices ("premium"), the prices of concrete coins, bars as well as scrap gold alloys at the gold dealer always deviate somewhat from the general gold price.

For common products made of 999 gold, all reputable dealers and banks list specific buying and selling prices. The smaller the denomination, the higher the premiums. All current prices at Gold & Co in the purchase & sale for investment coins and bars of pure gold can be found on our precious metal price overview.

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