Carat, or the number of carats, is traditionally used to indicate the fineness of gold.
Pure gold is extremely soft and therefore unsuitable for the production of jewelry, for example. To make the gold more dimensionally stable and scratch-resistant, it is mixed with other precious metals, such as copper or silver. The karat number indicates the pure gold content of a coin or piece of jewelry and is therefore a decisive criterion in the valuation of a piece of gold.
The unit of measurement carat has been used to measure gold for thousands of years and indicates the gold content of an alloy in 1/24 parts. Thus, pure gold is equivalent to 24 karats - it has 24/24 parts gold by weight. 1-carat gold, on the other hand, is only 1/24 pure gold, which is only about 4.167% more.
The indication of a carat number as fineness is still common for gold jewelry and watches, but often you can find the alternative indication of the fineness of the gold alloy in thousand parts. So a piece with 14/24 parts by weight of pure gold can be hallmarked as 14 karat gold as well as 585 (585/1000 parts) gold.
Not to be confused, however, is carat with carat. The metric carat is the unit of measurement for diamonds and other precious stones: 1 carat is equivalent to the weight of 0.2 grams. The weight of gold and other precious metals, on the other hand, is expressed in troy ounces.
Gold carat table
| Carat | Designation | Gold content (percent) |
| 0,7 Carat | gold plated 30 | < 3 % |
| 2,4 Carat | Dublee/Gold filled 100 | 10 % |
| 6 Carat | Gold 250 | 25 % |
| 8 Carat | Gold 333 | 33,3 % |
| 9 Carat | Gold 375 | 37,5 % |
| 12 Carat | Gold 500 | 50 % |
| 14 Carat | Gold 585 | 58,5 % |
| 18 Carat | Gold 750 | 75 % |
| 20 Carat | Gold 833 | 83,3 % |
| 21 Carat | Gold 875 | 87,5 % |
| 21,6 Carat | Gold 900/coin gold | 90 % |
| 22 Carat | Gold 917 | 91,7 % |
| 23 Carat | Gold 950 | 95 % |
| 23,6 Carat | Gold 986 (e.g. ducats) | 98,6 % |
| 24 Carat | Gold 999/Fine gold | 99,99 % |
How can you tell the square number?
Valuable works of art, fine jewelry and status symbols have always been made of gold. To make it easier to value the various objects when selling them, for example, they are usually stamped with a hallmark - the so-called "repunch". This indicates the different carat values worldwide in the same form. These stamps usually use the abbreviation "kt" for the term "carat". As the international spelling is "carat", the abbreviation "C" is also possible, which is mainly found on wristwatches and other watches made of gold.
Examples of square numbers
The highest value that gold can have is 24 carat. This is pure gold, also known as "fine gold", with a gold content of 99.9 %. Fine gold is mainly used for investment gold, i.e. coins, bars or medals. Coin gold also often has a gold content of 21.6 carats.
In Austria, jewelry is usually made of 14 carat gold (585 gold), which corresponds to a gold content of 58.5%. If you go further south - for example to Italy - you will often find pieces of jewelry made with 750 gold, i.e. the gold content is 75%, which corresponds to 18 carats.
333 gold is 8 carat; the gold content of the alloy is then only 33.3%. In Austria, jewelry containing less than 9 carat gold may no longer be sold as gold jewelry according to the hallmarking law.
How to calculate the value of gold jewelry?
The price of gold jewelry is calculated according to carat(stamp or hallmark = carat number), weight and the current gold rate. The higher the gold content of a piece, the more money it is worth. If you would like to sell your old gold jewelry, use our practical gold price calculator to calculate the value of your pieces at the current gold price!
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