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Gold Alloys - What Is A Carat? Chard 9 Carat Home Page Click here to return to FAQ Index
A Carat Is 1/24th By Weight
Don't confuse the word "carat" as used for diamonds or other gemstones, when it is a unit of weight.
A carat as applied to gold alloys means a proportion by weight of one part in twenty-four, or 41.66 parts per 1000, or 4.166%. The higher the carat value, the higher the proportion of gold in relation to the base metal content. Pure gold is therefore 24 carat. Nine carat gold therefore contains 9/24 gold, which equals 37.5% or 375 parts per thousand.

Percentage by Weight
The following table shows typical "recipes" for different common gold alloys.

Alloy
Percentages by Weight
 GoldSilverCopperZincNickelPalladium
9 Yellow37.510457.5--
9 White37.804010.411.8-
9 Red37.5-62.5---
14 Yellow58.5431.26.3--
14 White58.50.52777-
18 Yellow75169---
18 White7544--17
18 Red75-25---
22 Yellow91.75.52.8---
22 Red91.7-8.3---
24100-----



You may wish to visit some of our other pages:-
Allergies to Gold Jewellery
Hardness & Durability of Gold Alloys
What is White Gold?
White Gold Turns Yellow

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