{"id":20268,"date":"2026-10-05T05:44:07","date_gmt":"2026-10-05T04:44:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/metalsradar.com\/glossary\/carat\/"},"modified":"2026-10-05T07:46:52","modified_gmt":"2026-10-05T06:46:52","slug":"carat","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/metalsradar.com\/au\/glossary\/carat\/","title":{"rendered":"Carat (Gold Purity)"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mrf-gl\"><p class=\"gl-def\">A carat (ct) measures gold purity in 24ths: 24 carat is pure gold, 18 carat is 18 parts gold in 24 (75%), and 9 carat is 37.5%. Gold carat is not the same as the carat used to weigh diamonds.<\/p><aside class=\"panel gl-live\"><p class=\"gl-live-h\">\ud83c\udde6\ud83c\uddfa Today in Australia<\/p><div class=\"gl-row\"><span>Gold, 1 troy ounce (spot)<\/span><b>A$5,993<\/b><\/div><div class=\"gl-row\"><span>Cheapest 1 oz gold coin: <a href=\"https:\/\/metalsradar.com\/au\/product\/1-oz-kangaroo-gold-coin\/\">1 oz Kangaroo Gold Coin<\/a><\/span><b>A$6,182<\/b> <small>+3.2% premium<\/small><\/div><p class=\"gl-src\">Data as of 05.10.2026, updated daily.<\/p><a class=\"btn primary\" href=\"https:\/\/metalsradar.com\/au\/cheapest-gold-coins\/\">Compare gold coin prices \u203a<\/a><\/aside><div class=\"gl-body\"><h2>Carat to fineness conversion<\/h2><p>To convert a carat number to purity, divide it by 24. In Australia you will see it stamped as \"18ct\" or \"9ct\" on jewellery, sometimes with the matching fineness number. Bullion is normally stamped in <a href=\"fineness}}\">fineness<\/a> instead.<\/p><table><thead><tr><th>Carat<\/th><th>Gold content<\/th><th>Fineness mark<\/th><th>Where you see it<\/th><\/tr><\/thead><tbody><tr><td>24 ct<\/td><td>99.9% and above<\/td><td>999 \/ 999.9<\/td><td>Bullion coins and bars<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>22 ct<\/td><td>91.67%<\/td><td>916<\/td><td>Krugerrand, Gold Eagle, Indian wedding jewellery<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>18 ct<\/td><td>75%<\/td><td>750<\/td><td>Fine jewellery, watch cases<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>14 ct<\/td><td>58.5%<\/td><td>585<\/td><td>Imported jewellery<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>9 ct<\/td><td>37.5%<\/td><td>375<\/td><td>Everyday Australian rings and chains<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><p>Worked example: a 20 g 18 carat chain holds 20 x 0.75 = 15 g of gold. A 20 g 9 carat chain holds only 7.5 g, which is less than a quarter of a <a href=\"troy-ounce}}\">troy ounce<\/a>. The rest is silver, copper or zinc, which shapes the colour (yellow, rose or white gold) and the hardness.<\/p><h2>Jewellery is not bullion<\/h2><p>Carat gold jewellery sells for well above its metal value because you pay for design, labour and retail margin. When you sell it to a gold buyer, you are paid for the fine gold only, minus a refining margin. Gold jewellery also carries 10% GST when sold new in Australia, because the GST Act treats only investment-form gold of at least 99.5% purity as precious metal. Bullion of 24 carat in coin or bar form is sold without GST; see <a href=\"investment-gold-tax}}\">GST on gold<\/a>.<\/p><p>22 carat sits in the middle. The Krugerrand is a bullion coin in every practical sense, priced close to spot, yet at 91.67% it misses the GST purity line. Compare the final price of a <a href=\"\/au\/product\/1-oz-krugerrand-gold-coin\/\">1 oz Krugerrand<\/a> with a 24 carat <a href=\"\/au\/product\/1-oz-maple-leaf-gold-coin\/\">1 oz Maple Leaf<\/a> before you assume the cheaper headline is the cheaper coin.<\/p><h2>Scrap value of carat gold<\/h2><p>If you want to estimate what an old 9 or 18 carat piece is worth as metal, multiply its weight in grams by its purity and by the <a href=\"\/au\/charts\/gold-price\/gold-price-per-gram\/\">AUD gold price per gram<\/a>. Buyers then deduct their margin, which is a form of <a href=\"spread}}\">bid-ask spread<\/a>. Weigh items without stones, since diamonds and gems add weight but no gold.<\/p><p>Note the spelling: Australia and the UK use \"carat\" for gold purity; the US spells it \"karat\" to separate it from the diamond carat, which is a weight of 0.2 g.<\/p><\/div><h2>Related terms<\/h2><p class=\"gl-chips\"><a class=\"gl-chip\" href=\"https:\/\/metalsradar.com\/au\/glossary\/fineness\/\">Fineness<\/a> <a class=\"gl-chip\" href=\"https:\/\/metalsradar.com\/au\/glossary\/troy-ounce\/\">Troy Ounce<\/a> <a class=\"gl-chip\" href=\"https:\/\/metalsradar.com\/au\/glossary\/gst-on-gold\/\">GST on Gold and Silver in Australia<\/a> <a class=\"gl-chip\" href=\"https:\/\/metalsradar.com\/au\/glossary\/bid-ask-spread\/\">Bid-Ask Spread<\/a><\/p><section class=\"mrf-faq\"><h2>FAQ<\/h2><div class=\"faq-list\"><details open><summary><h3>How much gold is in 9 carat gold?<\/h3><\/summary><div class=\"a\"><p>9 carat gold is 9 parts in 24, or 37.5% pure gold, with the rest made up of other metals.<\/p><\/div><\/details><details><summary><h3>Is 24 carat gold the same as 9999?<\/h3><\/summary><div class=\"a\"><p>Both mean pure gold; 24 carat covers 99.9% and above, while 9999 specifies 99.99%, the standard for Perth Mint bullion coins.<\/p><\/div><\/details><details><summary><h3>Is 22 carat gold a good investment in Australia?<\/h3><\/summary><div class=\"a\"><p>22 carat coins contain full ounces of gold but usually attract 10% GST in Australia, so compare their final price with 24 carat coins first.<\/p><\/div><\/details><\/div><\/section><details class=\"gl-src-list\"><summary>Sources<\/summary><ul><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.legislation.gov.au\/C2004A00446\/latest\/text\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">A New Tax System (Goods and Services Tax) Act 1999, ss 38-385, 40-100 and 195-1 (Federal Register of Legislation)<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ato.gov.au\/law\/view\/pdf\/pbr\/gstr2003-010.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">ATO, Goods and Services Tax Ruling GSTR 2003\/10: What is precious metal?<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/details><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"parent":20236,"menu_order":4,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","_glsr_average":0,"_glsr_ranking":0,"_glsr_reviews":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-20268","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"taxonomy_info":[],"featured_image_src_large":false,"author_info":{"display_name":"","author_link":"https:\/\/metalsradar.com\/au\/"},"comment_info":0,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/metalsradar.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/20268","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/metalsradar.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/metalsradar.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/metalsradar.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20268"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/metalsradar.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/20268\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20356,"href":"https:\/\/metalsradar.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/20268\/revisions\/20356"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/metalsradar.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/20236"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/metalsradar.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20268"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}