How Is The Quality Of Your Gold Assessed?

How Is The Quality Of Your Gold Assessed?

Gold is one of the most sought-after precious metals known to man, and with good reason. Its versatile characteristics and aesthetic qualities establish it on solid foundations in times of economic uncertainty. The fineness of gold ultimately determines its monetary value, but how is this assessed?

As an element, gold in its purest form is considered to be in its most valuable state. It is often described as being 24 carat' gold, meaning that it is theoretically 100 percent gold. However, gold in its purest form is unsuitable for use in jewellery as it possesses soft properties. So soft that it can moulded and shaped by hand. For this reason, it is alloyed with less sought-after base metals such as copper in order to improve its wearing qualities.

Carats themselves are a universal measure of the purity of gold; the higher the carat value, the more expensive the gold is likely to be. This is because golds of higher carat values contain a higher percentage of gold to base metals. For example, a necklace of 18 carats contains 750 parts per thousand of gold and the remaining 250 parts are occupied by other base metals such as copper and silver.

In the United Kingdom, only gold of the carats 9, 14, 18 and 22 are recognised by law with jewellery of 9 carats being the most popular. Although only 37.5 percent gold, it has durable properties making it an inexpensive candidate for everyday jewellery use. Laws exist in the UK that ensure gold is stamped with hallmarks, marking its manufacturer, purity and assay office. It is illegal to describe a metal as gold' if it is not hallmarked.

Whether you are buying or selling gold, it is important to know its carat and weight so that you can formulate an amount based on the current price of gold. Prices recently hit a record high of 794.24 per ounce of gold mainly due to a rising demand for gold jewellery. With gold prices at all time high, there has never been a better time to sell that unwanted or broken jewellery.

Historically, gold has played a role in jewellery, currency and technology. Only 165,000 tonnes of gold have been mined so far and when its many uses in today's society are considered, the quality of gold has never been so important.

POST COMMENT

Boys Bedding Find Inexpensive And Good Quality Products the best place to get best quality mlm leads How to Get a Quality Domain Name Are you like the cheap and quality product or not? Improve The Quality Of Your Life By Taking Boulder Dance Lessons Mlm Lead Generation - How To Get Quality Leads For Mlm Quality Standards For Iso 9000 Shipping DealByEthan.com Offers FREE Quality Twink Men's Underwear Don't Sacrifice Quality in Canvas Art Prints Preventing Disastrous Generational Conflict in the Workplace Cheap And Quality Skate Shoes Get Quality Traffic Buy Back Links The Importance Of Quality Back Links