Its gold color and luster have enchanted people for centuries. The desire of people to adorn themselves in gold dates back to the time when civilization began in what is now modern day Iran/Iraq. Many attribute gold for being the motivation for opening up trade; man’s exploration of new lands and it has long been associated with a form of currency or monetary value. From gold’s earliest associations with gods, many of the metal’s applications were religious ceremonial objects and adornments. Even today, Egyptians refer to gold as the “child of the sun”.

Being extremely malleable allows pure gold to be pounded flat into gold leaf as thin as 1/250,000 of an inch thick. Gold in its purest form doesn’t corrode, however, it is soft and scratches easily so therefore, molten gold is alloyed with other metals, to change gold’s hardness, appearance or color.

Karat is a specific term used only with gold to describe its amount of fineness (absences of impurities) and amount of alloying metal, if present. A karat always refers to how many parts of gold is present in the gold alloy therefore, and it is expressed as a number, one karat represents 1/24th of purity. For example, 14 karat gold (14K) is 14 parts gold and 10 parts alloy. Although alloyed gold less valuable, it is more durable than pure gold. Therefore, 14K is more affordable than 18K and more durable than 18K, even though 18K is more valuable.

*The U.S. Gold and Silver Marking act allows for a variance of 3/1000 or 0.003 the fineness, so 24K can actually be 99.7% gold.

The United States prohibits metals less than 10K to be marketed and sold as gold in the U.S. Internationally these acceptable levels vary as Great Britain and Canada allow 9K to be marketed and sold as gold.

A variety of metals are used in alloying gold and in creating different colors of gold and give designs a host of tones and hues to use in their designs. Nickel and zinc are commonly used to alloy white gold and copper is added to gold to create pink or red gold. Although available in a rainbow of colors: pink, green, blue, gray, purple and even peach, the most popular color complements many skin tones and is yellow gold. South Africa is the world’s leading supplier of gold, followed by the United States and Canada.