{"id":21079,"date":"2026-10-10T06:24:44","date_gmt":"2026-10-10T05:24:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/metalsradar.com\/glossary\/carat\/"},"modified":"2026-10-10T06:24:44","modified_gmt":"2026-10-10T05:24:44","slug":"carat","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/metalsradar.com\/ca\/glossary\/carat\/","title":{"rendered":"Carat or Karat (Gold Purity)"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mrf-gl\"><p class=\"gl-def\">A karat (K, also written carat or ct) measures gold purity in 24ths: 24 karat is pure gold, 18 karat is 18 parts gold in 24 (75%), and 10 karat is about 41.6%. It is not the same as the carat used to weigh diamonds.<\/p><aside class=\"panel gl-live\"><p class=\"gl-live-h\">\ud83c\udde8\ud83c\udde6 Today in Canada<\/p><div class=\"gl-row\"><span>Gold, 1 troy ounce (spot)<\/span><b>5,970 CAD<\/b><\/div><p class=\"gl-src\">Data as of 10.10.2026, updated daily.<\/p><a class=\"btn primary\" href=\"https:\/\/metalsradar.com\/ca\/cheapest-gold-coins\/\">Compare gold coin prices \u203a<\/a><\/aside><div class=\"gl-body\"><h2>Karat to fineness conversion<\/h2><p>To convert a karat number to purity, divide it by 24. Canadian rules accept both spellings on jewellery: \"K\", \"Kt\" or \"Karat\", and \"C\" or \"Ct\", or a decimal such as .583. Bullion is normally stamped in <a href=\"fineness}}\">fineness<\/a> instead.<\/p><table><thead><tr><th>Karat<\/th><th>Gold content<\/th><th>Decimal mark<\/th><th>Where you see it<\/th><\/tr><\/thead><tbody><tr><td>24K<\/td><td>99.9% and above<\/td><td>999 \/ 999.9<\/td><td>Bullion coins and bars, such as the Gold Maple Leaf<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>22K<\/td><td>91.67%<\/td><td>.916<\/td><td>Krugerrand, American Gold Eagle<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>18K<\/td><td>75%<\/td><td>.750<\/td><td>Fine jewellery<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>14K<\/td><td>58.3%<\/td><td>.583<\/td><td>Jewellery<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>10K<\/td><td>41.6%<\/td><td>.416<\/td><td>Jewellery<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>9K<\/td><td>37.5%<\/td><td>.375<\/td><td>The lowest gold quality that can carry a quality mark in Canada<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><p>Worked example: a 20 g 18K chain holds 20 x 0.75 = 15 g of gold. A 20 g 10K chain holds about 8.3 g, roughly a quarter of a <a href=\"troy-ounce}}\">troy ounce<\/a>. The rest is silver, copper, zinc or other metals, which shape the colour (yellow, rose or white gold) and the hardness.<\/p><h2>Jewellery is not bullion<\/h2><p>Karat 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 margin. The CRA also names carat gold jewellery as an example of metal that is not \"precious metal\" for GST\/HST, so new jewellery is taxable. Gold of at least 99.5% in bar or government-issued coin form is generally exempt; see <a href=\"investment-gold-tax}}\">GST\/HST on gold<\/a>.<\/p><p>22 karat 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 99.5% line and is generally taxable. Compare it with a 24 karat <a href=\"\/ca\/product\/1-oz-maple-leaf-gold-coin\/\">1 oz Gold Maple Leaf<\/a> before you assume the cheaper headline is the cheaper coin. If you buy Krugerrands second-hand, our guide to spotting a <a href=\"\/ca\/how-to-spot-fake-coins\/krugerrand\/\">fake Krugerrand<\/a> lists the specifications to check.<\/p><h2>Scrap value of karat gold<\/h2><p>To estimate what an old 10K or 18K piece is worth as metal, multiply its weight in grams by its purity and by the <a href=\"\/ca\/charts\/gold-price\/gold-price-per-gram\/\">gold price per gram in CAD<\/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. The diamond carat is a unit of weight (0.2 g), not purity.<\/p><\/div><h2>Related terms<\/h2><p class=\"gl-chips\"><a class=\"gl-chip\" href=\"https:\/\/metalsradar.com\/ca\/glossary\/fineness\/\">Fineness<\/a> <a class=\"gl-chip\" href=\"https:\/\/metalsradar.com\/ca\/glossary\/troy-ounce\/\">Troy Ounce<\/a> <a class=\"gl-chip\" href=\"https:\/\/metalsradar.com\/ca\/glossary\/gst-hst-on-gold\/\">GST\/HST on Gold and Silver in Canada<\/a> <a class=\"gl-chip\" href=\"https:\/\/metalsradar.com\/ca\/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 10K gold?<\/h3><\/summary><div class=\"a\"><p>10 karat gold is 10 parts in 24, or about 41.6% pure gold, marked .416 in Canada, with the rest made up of other metals.<\/p><\/div><\/details><details><summary><h3>Is 24 karat gold the same as 9999?<\/h3><\/summary><div class=\"a\"><p>Both mean pure gold; 24 karat covers 99.9% and above, while 9999 specifies 99.99%, the standard for the Gold Maple Leaf.<\/p><\/div><\/details><details><summary><h3>Is 22 karat gold a good investment in Canada?<\/h3><\/summary><div class=\"a\"><p>22 karat coins contain full ounces of gold but are below the 99.5% GST\/HST threshold, so they are generally taxable; compare their final price with 24 karat coins first.<\/p><\/div><\/details><\/div><\/section><details class=\"gl-src-list\"><summary>Sources<\/summary><ul><li><a href=\"https:\/\/competition-bureau.canada.ca\/en\/labelling\/precious-metals\/detailed-requirements-marking-precious-metals\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Competition Bureau Canada: Detailed requirements for marking of precious metals<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.canada.ca\/en\/revenue-agency\/services\/forms-publications\/publications\/17-1\/definition-financial-instrument.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Canada Revenue Agency, GST\/HST Memorandum 17.1: Definition of financial instrument (precious metals, paras 29 to 38)<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/laws-lois.justice.gc.ca\/eng\/acts\/E-15\/section-123.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Excise Tax Act, section 123: definition of precious metal (Justice Laws Website)<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/details><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"parent":21075,"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-21079","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"taxonomy_info":[],"featured_image_src_large":false,"author_info":{"display_name":"","author_link":"https:\/\/metalsradar.com\/ca\/"},"comment_info":0,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/metalsradar.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/21079","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/metalsradar.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/metalsradar.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/metalsradar.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21079"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/metalsradar.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/21079\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/metalsradar.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/21075"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/metalsradar.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21079"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}