Karat tells you how much of a piece is pure gold, out of 24 parts. 10K is 41.7% gold, 14K is 58.3%, 18K is 75% and 22K is 91.6%. Gold jewelry is priced on weight times purity, with offers that follow the live spot price, so a heavy 10K chain can be worth more than a light 18K ring.
What a karat number means
Karat measures gold purity on a scale of 24. Pure gold is 24K, and 18K means 18 of 24 parts are gold, which is 75%. The rest of the piece is other metal mixed in to make it harder.
Several karats can turn up in one jewelry box, and gold coins add more. American Gold Eagles, Krugerrands and British Sovereigns are 22K, while the Gold Buffalo and the Canadian Maple Leaf are 24K.
Lower karat gold holds less gold in every gram. A 10K ring is less than half gold, while a 22K bangle or coin is more than nine-tenths gold. The table shows how much pure gold sits in 10 grams of each karat.
The gap between karats is wide. Ten grams of 18K holds 7.5 grams of pure gold, close to twice the 4.17 grams in the same weight of 10K, which is why sorting by stamp matters before anything is weighed.
| Karat | Common stamps | Gold content | Pure gold in 10 grams |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10K | 10K, 417 | 41.7% | 4.17 g |
| 14K | 14K, 585 | 58.3% | 5.83 g |
| 18K | 18K, 750 | 75% | 7.5 g |
| 22K | 22K, 916 | 91.6% | 9.16 g |
| 24K | 24K, 999 | 99.9% | 9.99 g |
Where to find the stamp and how to read it
Stamps are tiny, so a magnifying glass helps. On rings, look inside the band. On chains and bracelets, check the clasp or the small tag beside it, and on earrings check the post or the back.
U.S. pieces usually read 10K, 14K or 18K, sometimes with KT in place of K. Jewelry made in Europe and elsewhere often uses a three-digit number for parts per thousand: 417 for 10K, 585 for 14K, 750 for 18K and 916 for 22K.
Stamps wear thin over years of use, and some older or handmade pieces were never stamped at all. An unmarked piece can still be gold, so bring it along and we will sort it by karat with the rest.
A silver mark can turn up in the same jewelry box, and a watch can carry its own stamp. 925 or STERLING means sterling silver, which is 92.5% silver, and those pieces are bought by weight as silver. On a pocket watch, check inside the back cover for a karat mark, and treat a case marked GF as gold-filled.
Gold-filled and gold-plated marks
Some stamps mean a piece has only a thin layer of gold over another metal. GF stands for gold-filled and often appears as 12K GF or 1/20 12K GF. RGP means rolled gold plate, and GP, GEP and HGE mark gold-plated or gold electroplated pieces.
Gold-filled and plated pieces hold very little gold. The 12K or 14K in a GF stamp describes only the thin outer layer.
We set gold-filled and plated pieces aside at the start of the appointment and tell you which ones they are. The offer then covers solid gold only, and you take the rest home. If a piece has no stamp and you suspect it is plated, put it in a separate bag, and we will tell you which it is before anything is weighed.
A plated piece can carry a karat number next to its plating mark, as in 14K GP or 18K HGE. Read the whole stamp before you count a piece as solid gold, since the letters after the karat change what it means.
How gold jewelry is weighed
Gold is weighed in grams or in pennyweights, the older jeweler's unit. One pennyweight (dwt) equals 1.555 grams, and 20 pennyweights come to about one troy ounce, which is 31.1035 grams.
At the appointment, pieces are sorted into groups by karat, and each group goes on a calibrated scale you can read. Sorting comes first because a 10K bracelet and an 18K ring hold very different amounts of gold per gram. Each karat group gets its own reading, so you see separate weights for your 10K, 14K and 18K pieces.
Damage does not lower a scrap gold offer, since the gold is priced by weight. Broken chains, single earrings, earring backs and bent rings weigh the same as they did whole, and each group's weight is written on the offer next to its karat. Dental gold, which is usually a gold alloy, is bought by weight too.
If an old receipt lists a piece in pennyweights, multiply by 1.555 to get grams. A piece listed at 5 dwt weighs about 7.78 grams, which you can compare with the scale reading at the appointment.
From weight and karat to an offer
The math is weight times purity. Ten grams of 14K holds 5.83 grams of pure gold, and dividing that by 31.1035 gives about 0.187 troy ounces. The same 10 grams in 18K holds about 0.241 troy ounces, and in 10K about 0.134.
This is how a heavy low karat piece can outweigh a light high karat one. A 30 gram 10K chain holds about 12.5 grams of pure gold, while a 6 gram 18K ring holds 4.5 grams. In the table, the 25 gram 22K bangle holds almost twice the pure gold of the 20 gram 14K bracelet, though it weighs only 5 grams more.
The offer for each karat group follows the live spot price for gold, applied to that pure gold weight. You see the weight, the karat and the offer for each group on a written, item-by-item list. To check the math yourself, multiply each group's weight by its purity from the table above, then divide by 31.1035 for troy ounces.
Two pieces of the same weight and karat get the same offer for their gold, whatever their style. Spot moves every day, so a quote from last month can differ from today's on the same pieces. The appraisal is free with no obligation, and you can accept for same-day payment or decline and keep everything.
| Piece | Weight | Karat | Pure gold |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chain | 30 g | 10K | 12.5 g |
| Class ring | 15 g | 10K | 6.26 g |
| Bracelet | 20 g | 14K | 11.66 g |
| Wedding band | 6 g | 18K | 4.5 g |
| Bangle | 25 g | 22K | 22.9 g |
Class rings, dental gold and gold coins
Dental gold is usually a gold alloy, and it is bought by weight like other scrap. Crowns and bridges saved in an envelope or a small bottle can go into the same appointment as jewelry.
Class rings carry their karat stamp inside the band like other rings. Charms, cufflinks, tie bars and old watch chains go into the jewelry groups and are sorted by karat with everything else, and broken or bent pieces count by weight, so there is no need to repair anything first.
Gold coins follow their own rules. American Gold Eagles, Krugerrands and British Sovereigns are 22K, the Gold Buffalo and the Canadian Maple Leaf are 24K, and classic U.S. gold coins made before 1933 are 90% gold. Those coins are worth at least their gold content, and pre-1933 U.S. coins with a scarce date or high grade can bring more, so they are kept apart from jewelry and checked one at a time under a loupe.
A little sorting at home helps. Put stamped pieces in piles by karat, keep unmarked pieces and anything marked GF or GP in their own bags, and set sterling and coins aside. Sterling is weighed as silver and gets its own line on the offer, and if you are unsure whether something is gold, bring it and we will tell you at the start.
Selling gold jewelry in Chicago
Gold jewelry from a long-held Chicago family home tends to cover several karats. A single jewelry box from a Berwyn bungalow or an older Oak Park house can hold a 10K class ring, 14K chains, an 18K wedding band and a gold-filled watch band, and each one weighs out differently once it is sorted. Sellers who search for gold buyers in Chicago are often holding exactly that kind of mix.
If you are collecting quotes from pawn shops, mall kiosks or hotel buying events, ask each one for the weight and karat behind its number. Our written offer lists both for every group. Each piece is sorted by karat in front of you and weighed on a calibrated scale you can read, and gold-filled pieces are set aside before anything is priced.
We meet by private appointment, Monday to Saturday, 10am to 6pm, with the place set when you book. Call (773) 241-8624 and we call back the same day. Bring a government-issued photo ID.
Accept the offer and get paid the same day in cash, or by same-day wire for larger sales, or decline and take your gold and the list home. We buy from sellers across Chicago and the suburbs, from Evanston and Skokie to Naperville and Orland Park.
Ready to sell? See how we handle selling gold jewelry in Chicago, read about a free coin appraisal, or call (773) 241-8624.