Buying jewelry can be fun, exciting and sometimes confusing. Whether you are considering a gift of jewelry for someone special or as a treat for yourself, take some time to learn
terms used in industry. Start with basics: carats and karats. What's difference? To make it simple, a carat is unit of weight for gemstones, including diamonds; a karat is a unit for measuring purity of gold.
The word gold, for example, used by itself, means all gold or 24 karat (24K) gold. However, because 24K gold is very soft, it's usually mixed with other metals to increase its strength and durability. If a piece of jewelry is not 24 karat gold, karat quality should accompany any claim that item is gold.
The karat quality tells you what proportion of gold is mixed with other metals. Fourteen karat (14K) jewelry contains 14 parts of gold, mixed in throughout with 10 parts of base metal. The higher karat rating, higher proportion of gold. Most jewelry is marked with its karat quality, although this is not required by law. Near karat quality mark, you should find name of registered trademark of company that will stand behind mark. If you do not see a trademark on a piece of jewelry, look for another piece.
Jewelry can be plated with gold in a variety of ways. Gold plate refers to items that are composed of base metal then covered with a layer of gold, done either mechanically or electronically. Eventually gold plating wears away, but how soon depends on how often item is worn and how thick plating is. Gold-filled, gold overlay and gold plate are terms used to describe jewelry that has a layer of at least 10 karat gold mechanically bonded to a base metal. If item is marked with any one of those terms, term or abbreviation should follow karat quality of gold used. For example, 14K Gold Overlay or 12K RGP.
