{"id":20264,"date":"2026-10-05T05:43:50","date_gmt":"2026-10-05T04:43:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/metalsradar.com\/glossary\/karat\/"},"modified":"2026-10-05T07:46:36","modified_gmt":"2026-10-05T06:46:36","slug":"karat","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/metalsradar.com\/en\/glossary\/karat\/","title":{"rendered":"Karat"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mrf-gl\"><p class=\"gl-def\">Karat (k or kt) measures gold purity in 24 parts. 24 karat is pure gold, 14 karat is 14\/24 or 58.3% gold, and 10 karat is the lowest purity that may be sold as gold in the US.<\/p><aside class=\"panel gl-live\"><p class=\"gl-live-h\">\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8 Today in the US<\/p><div class=\"gl-row\"><span>Gold, 1 troy ounce (spot)<\/span><b>$4,160<\/b><\/div><div class=\"gl-row\"><span>Cheapest 1 oz gold coin: <a href=\"https:\/\/metalsradar.com\/en\/product\/1oz-krugerrand-gold-coin\/\">1oz Krugerrand Gold Coin<\/a><\/span><b>$4,189.93<\/b> <small>+0.7% premium<\/small><\/div><p class=\"gl-src\">Data as of 05.10.2026, updated daily.<\/p><a class=\"btn primary\" href=\"https:\/\/metalsradar.com\/en\/cheapest-gold-coins\/\">Compare gold coin prices \u203a<\/a><\/aside><div class=\"gl-body\"><p>For a hands-on guide to gold purity and how to check it at home, read our article on <a href=\"\/en\/blog\/gold-purity-fineness-and-karat-what-is-it-and-how-to-check-it\/\">gold purity, fineness and karat<\/a>. This entry covers the karat scale and what it means when you compare jewelry with bullion.<\/p><h2>Karat to fineness conversion<\/h2><p>To convert karats into percent, divide by 24. In the US the word is spelled karat, while carat with a \"c\" measures the weight of gemstones. The same purity can also be written as <a href=\"fineness}}\">fineness<\/a>.<\/p><table><thead><tr><th>Karat<\/th><th>Gold content<\/th><th>Fineness<\/th><th>Common use in the US<\/th><\/tr><\/thead><tbody><tr><td>10k<\/td><td>41.7%<\/td><td>.417<\/td><td>Class rings, budget jewelry<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>14k<\/td><td>58.3%<\/td><td>.583<\/td><td>Most US jewelry, chains, wedding bands<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>18k<\/td><td>75.0%<\/td><td>.750<\/td><td>Fine jewelry, watches<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>22k<\/td><td>91.7%<\/td><td>.917<\/td><td>American Gold Eagle, Krugerrand<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>24k<\/td><td>99.9% and above<\/td><td>.999 to .9999<\/td><td>American Gold Buffalo, gold bars<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><h2>US rules: why 10k is the floor<\/h2><p>The FTC Jewelry Guides (16 CFR Part 23) say it may be misleading to call an item gold, or mark it with a karat stamp, if it is made of an alloy below 10 karat. That is why you see 10k, 14k and 18k in American stores, while 9k is common in Britain. The National Gold and Silver Stamping Act adds that a karat mark must be accurate and must sit next to the maker's registered trademark.<\/p><h3>Gold-filled and gold-plated are not karat gold<\/h3><p>\"14k gold-filled\" (GF) or \"gold-plated\" means only a thin layer of karat gold over a base metal. These pieces have little melt value and dealers rarely buy them by weight.<\/p><h2>Jewelry vs bullion: what you pay for<\/h2><p>Karat tells you how much gold you hold, not what it is worth to a buyer. Example with fixed numbers: a 14k chain weighing 20 g contains 20 x 0.583 = 11.67 g of pure gold, or 0.375 <a href=\"troy-ounce}}\">troy ounce<\/a>. A 1\/2 oz gold coin holds 0.5 oz. The chain may have cost far more at retail because of design and labor, but a buyer will pay only for gold content, minus a margin.<\/p><p>Bullion works the other way around. A 22k Gold Eagle and a 24k Buffalo both contain one full ounce, and their prices follow the spot price closely. If your goal is metal rather than jewelry, compare the <a href=\"\/en\/categories\/american-eagle-gold-coin\/\">American Eagle gold coin prices<\/a> or the <a href=\"\/en\/categories\/american-bison-gold-coin\/\">Buffalo gold coin offers<\/a>. To estimate scrap value of old jewelry, use the <a href=\"\/en\/gold-melt-value\/\">gold melt value calculator<\/a> with the karat and weight in grams.<\/p><p>Note that the <a href=\"spread}}\">spread<\/a> on jewelry sold for scrap is usually much wider than on bullion coins, because the buyer has to refine it.<\/p><\/div><h2>Related terms<\/h2><p class=\"gl-chips\"><a class=\"gl-chip\" href=\"https:\/\/metalsradar.com\/en\/glossary\/fineness\/\">Fineness<\/a> <a class=\"gl-chip\" href=\"https:\/\/metalsradar.com\/en\/glossary\/troy-ounce\/\">Troy Ounce<\/a> <a class=\"gl-chip\" href=\"https:\/\/metalsradar.com\/en\/glossary\/bullion\/\">Bullion<\/a> <a class=\"gl-chip\" href=\"https:\/\/metalsradar.com\/en\/glossary\/bid-ask-spread\/\">Bid-Ask Spread<\/a><\/p><section class=\"mrf-faq\"><h2>FAQ<\/h2><div class=\"faq-list\"><details open><summary><h3>Is 14k or 18k gold better?<\/h3><\/summary><div class=\"a\"><p>18k gold contains 75% gold and 14k contains 58.3%, so 18k is worth more per gram, while 14k is harder and more common in US jewelry.<\/p><\/div><\/details><details><summary><h3>Is 10k real gold?<\/h3><\/summary><div class=\"a\"><p>Yes, 10k is 41.7% gold and it is the lowest purity that may be marketed as gold in the United States.<\/p><\/div><\/details><details><summary><h3>Is the American Gold Eagle 24 karat?<\/h3><\/summary><div class=\"a\"><p>No, the Gold Eagle is 22 karat, but it still contains one full troy ounce of gold because the alloy is added on top.<\/p><\/div><\/details><\/div><\/section><details class=\"gl-src-list\"><summary>Sources<\/summary><ul><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ecfr.gov\/current\/title-16\/chapter-I\/subchapter-B\/part-23\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">FTC Guides for the Jewelry, Precious Metals, and Pewter Industries, 16 CFR Part 23<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.law.cornell.edu\/uscode\/text\/15\/295\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">15 U.S. Code \u00a7 295, National Gold and Silver Stamping Act (gold fineness)<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.law.cornell.edu\/uscode\/text\/15\/297\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">15 U.S. Code \u00a7 297, trademark next to quality marks<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.usmint.gov\/coins-precious-metal-coins\/bullion-coin-programs\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">United States Mint: bullion coin programs<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/details><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"parent":20232,"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-20264","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"taxonomy_info":[],"featured_image_src_large":false,"author_info":{"display_name":"","author_link":"https:\/\/metalsradar.com\/en\/"},"comment_info":0,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/metalsradar.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/20264","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/metalsradar.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/metalsradar.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/metalsradar.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20264"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/metalsradar.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/20264\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20352,"href":"https:\/\/metalsradar.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/20264\/revisions\/20352"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/metalsradar.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/20232"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/metalsradar.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20264"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}