24-carat gold is the purest (99.9%) form of gold. 18-carat gold is 75% gold, 12-carat is 50% gold and so on. Nowadays, the carat system is increasingly being replaced by the millesimal fineness system in which the purity of precious metals is denoted by parts per thousand of pure metal in the alloy.
The most common carats used for jewelry making and by goldsmiths are 24,22,20,18,15,14,10 and 9 carat gold. But the most common for jewelry making are 22 and 18 carat gold.
In olden days, in England the carat was divisible into four grains, and the grain was divisible into four quarts. A gold alloy of fineness (that is, 99.2% purity) could have been described as being 23-carat, 3-grain, 1-quart gold.
Derivation
The word carat is derived from the Greek kerátiōn meaning "fruit of the carob". Carob seeds were believed to have uniform weights and hence they were used on precision scales. However, later it was found that carob seeds have variations in their weights like other seeds. In the olden days, different countries each had their own carat, equivalent to carob seed.
Terminology
22/22K - a quality mark indicating the purity of gold, is very popular on the gold jewelry business in Asian countries like India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Yemen, and Persian Gulf countries. This symbol was most popularly used in India and was adapted and practiced by big jewelers. The first 22 signifies the "Skin purity" of gold jewelry and the second 22 signifies that after melting purity of the gold jewelry will be 22K (22 Karat) or 91.67% of pure gold.
This practice was introduced in the early mid-1980s in India, sparking a revolution in India. This practice forced jewelers to indicate correctly the after-melting purity, and increased consumer awareness.
In Chinese, Chuk Kam means pure gold, literally "exact gold". It is defined as 99.0% gold minimum with a 1.0% negative tolerance allowed. The quality of gold is guaranteed with a "Certificate of Gold" upon purchases in Hong Kong and Macau.
International carat ages of gold jewelry
Different countries use different carats of gold for jewelry making. Arabic countries and Oriental east countries like China, HongKong, Taiwan use 24 carat gold. Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Srilanka mostly use 22 carat for jewelry. Persian Gulf region use 21 carat and 18 carat is mostly used in Egypt. European countries and USA use a range of 8-18 carats of gold and Russia uses 9-14 carat gold.
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