Celtic Wedding Rings - Information on Carats
of Gold use in our
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The proportion of gold in jewelry is measured on the carat or
(karat) scale. The word carat comes from the carob seed, which
was originally used to balance scales in Oriental bazaars.
Pure gold is designated 24 carat and is used in those parts of
the world where jewelry is purchased as much for investment as
it is for adornment, but it tends to be vulnerable to
scratching. Elsewhere, it is usually mixed, or alloyed, with
other metals. Not only do they harden it, but influence the
color; white shades are achieved by alloying gold with silver,
nickel or palladium; red alloys contain mainly copper.
The most widely used alloys for jewelry in Europe are 18
and 14 carat, although 9 carat is popular in Britain and
Ireland. Portugal has a unique designation of 19.2 carats. In
the United States 14 carat predominates, with some 10 carat.
In much of the Middle East, India and South East Asia, jewelry
is traditionally 22 carat (sometimes even 23 carat). In China,
Hong Kong and some other parts of Asia, "chuk kam" or gold
jewellery of 990 fineness (almost 24 carat) is popular.
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