How to read the chart
Each row is one karat. Percent gold is karat divided by 24, shown to one decimal. Fineness is that same fraction in parts per thousand, rounded to the nearest whole number. The stamp column is what factories and assay offices actually punch, which is sometimes a few parts away from the rounded math.
That gap matters, and it is small. Fourteen karat is 583 parts per thousand if you only divide. The jewelry trade stamps 585. Twenty-two karat is about 917 parts. The stamp you will see in India and the Gulf is 916. Use the stamp when you are matching a mark. Use karat ÷ 24 when you are using this site’s karat calculators. The pages say which one they used.
Colour and “typical use” are habits of the trade, not rules. A 22K ring exists in the US, and 9ct exists outside Britain. The column is there so a stamp has a context, not so you can guess purity from a photograph.
The chart
| Karat | Percent gold | Fineness | Common stamps | Colour and typical use |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 24K Open calculator | 100% | 1000 | 999, 999.9, 24K | Bars, coins and some high-karat jewelry. Soft for daily rings. |
| 22K Open calculator | 91.7% | 917 | 916, 22K, 22ct | Common in India, the Gulf and traditional jewelry. Rich colour, still soft. |
| 21K | 87.5% | 875 | 875, 21K | Seen in some Middle Eastern and older pieces. Less common in US retail. |
| 18K Open calculator | 75% | 750 | 750, 18K, 18ct | Fine jewelry in Europe and many designer lines. Good colour, more durable than 22K. |
| 14K Open calculator | 58.3% | 583 | 585, 14K | The everyday US karat for rings, chains and bracelets. |
| 12K | 50% | 500 | 500, 12K | Occasional older jewelry. Check the stamp before you assume 14K. |
| 10K Open calculator | 41.7% | 417 | 417, 10K | Legal minimum karat stamped “gold” in the US. Harder, paler, lower melt per gram. |
| 9K Open calculator | 37.5% | 375 | 375, 9ct | The traditional British and Australian karat. Hallmarked rather than only stamped. |
| 8K | 33.3% | 333 | 333, 8K | Low-karat European jewelry. Still gold, with a large alloy share. |
Twenty-four karat is pure for jewelry purposes. Bullion is often stamped 999 or 999.9, meaning 99.9 percent, because refining does not land on a perfect 100. The 24K gold calculator prices 24 ÷ 24. A 999 coin is a hair under that, and a coin’s collector premium can dwarf the difference.
Karat and carat
Karat, sometimes spelled carat in Britain when the subject is gold, is purity. The whole is 24 parts. Eighteen karat means 18 of those parts are gold and 6 are other metals. The word carat, when a jeweler is talking about a stone, is weight. One carat is 0.2 grams of diamond, ruby or whatever the stone is. A “14K” ring with a “1 ct” center has a purity and a stone weight. Only the purity belongs in the melt formula, and only after you have removed the stone from the weight.
Britain’s older jewelry is marked in carats as well: 9ct, 18ct, 22ct. Those are the same fractions as 9K, 18K and 22K. The spelling changes. The denominator stays 24. When a British piece says “375” it is stating 9ct as fineness, which is 9 ÷ 24.
Fineness is the international number
Fineness skips the 24 and speaks in thousandths. 750 means 750 parts gold in 1,000, which is 75 percent, which is 18K. Hallmark systems and many European stamps prefer fineness because it does not depend on a local word for karat. If you see a three-digit number between 333 and 999 on jewelry, read it as fineness first, then convert. A three-digit number on a coin can be a date. Context matters: a necklace punch of 750 is purity; a coin dated 750 would be extraordinary for other reasons.
Stamps around the world
A stamp is a claim. A hallmark, in the strict sense, is a stamp applied by an assay office rather than only by the maker. The US mostly relies on the maker’s karat stamp and the law that says the stamp must be close to the truth. Britain, India and much of Europe add an independent assay. The practical difference for scrap is the same: you still want a test if the piece is odd, worn or high value. The marks below are the ones that change how you read a number.
Britain and 9ct
Nine carat, stamped 375, has been the everyday British gold standard for generations. A full UK hallmark also carries the sponsor’s mark, the assay office and a fineness mark. Optional marks have included a date letter. The weight above which a hallmark is compulsory has changed over time, so do not treat a missing hallmark on a very light item as proof it is fake, and do not treat a hallmark as a price.
Europe, 14K and 18K
Much of continental Europe stamps 585 for 14K and 750 for 18K. You will see 333 for 8K on older German and Scandinavian pieces. An 18K European wedding band and a 14K US band can look similar in a photo. The stamp, not the colour, is the purity clue.
India, the Gulf and 916
22K jewelry marked 916 is the ordinary fine-gold standard across much of India and the Gulf. 24K is closer to bullion than to a daily bangle, though high-karat jewelry is sold. A 916 bangle is not “better 18K”. It is a different row, with more gold per gram and a softer alloy.
BIS hallmark, in outline
In India the Bureau of Indian Standards runs a hallmarking scheme for gold jewellery. A modern hallmark is built to show a purity fineness such as 916 or 750, a bureau mark, the jeweller’s identification and a Hallmark Unique Identification number, the HUID, a short alphanumeric code tied to that article. The exact set of marks and the legal cutoff have been revised, so treat this as a map of the system rather than a current legal checklist. If you are matching an Indian piece, look for the fineness and the HUID, then confirm with a jeweller who halls under that scheme.
Plated and gold-filled marks
These marks mean the object is mostly not gold. They do not belong in the karat chart above, and they do not belong in the solid-karat calculators.
| Mark | What it claims | For scrap |
|---|---|---|
| GP | Gold plated. A thin coat of gold over base metal. | Usually no meaningful gold value. |
| GE or HGE | Gold electroplate, or heavy gold electroplate. Still a coating. | Still a coating. Do not price it as karat gold. |
| RGP | Rolled gold plate. A layer bonded to a base, thinner than most gold-filled grades. | A little gold, rarely worth a special trip. |
| 1/20 12K GF | Gold filled. One-twentieth of the weight is 12K gold alloy, bonded to the base. | Use the gold-filled calculator. The gold fraction is the ratio times 12 ÷ 24. |
| 1/10 14K GF | A heavier filled grade: one-tenth of the weight is 14K alloy. | More gold than 1/20, still far below solid 14K. |
“1/20 12K GF” is the mark people misread as “12 karat.” The 12K describes the layer, and 1/20 describes how much of the weight that layer is allowed to be. The gold-filled calculator applies both. If a piece says 14K and also says GF, the GF wins. It is not solid 14K.
Yellow, white and rose
Alloy metals paint the colour. Yellow gold leans on silver and copper. Rose gold leans harder on copper, which is why it looks warm even at the same karat as a yellow piece. White gold mixes in nickel, palladium or other white metals, and a rhodium plating is often added so the surface looks brighter than the alloy underneath. The plating is not a gold karat. It wears off, and the metal under it is still whatever the stamp says.
Scrap buyers pay for gold content, not for the colour name. An 18K rose band and an 18K yellow band with the same gold weight have the same melt value. White gold’s palladium, when it is actually in the alloy in a useful amount, can be worth something the gold formula ignores. This site does not price that palladium. If a buyer mentions it, ask them to show the line separately from the gold.
How purity changes the number
Melt value moves in a straight line with purity. At the same spot price and the same weight, 18K is 18 ÷ 14 times a 14K melt value, because 18/24 divided by 14/24 is 18/14. You do not need a new price to compare rows. You need the same weight. Double the karat fraction and you double the pure gold, which doubles the melt value.
Weight still dominates arguments. A heavy 10K class ring can beat a thin 22K band. Sort by karat, weigh each pile, and run each pile on its own. The dedicated pages do that with the karat locked: 10K, 14K, 18K, 22K and 24K. For 8K, 9K, 12K or 21K, set the karat on the gold calculator or convert the stamp on the gold karat calculator first.
The scrap value guide shows the multiplication in full, including why the troy ounce in the price is not the ounce on a kitchen scale.
Which karat is my piece?
- Read the inside of the band or the clasp Look for 10K, 14K, 18K, 22K, 9ct, or a three-digit fineness. A magnifier helps. Worn stamps hide in the curve of a ring.
- Check for a second mark that cancels it GF, GP, GE, HGE and RGP mean the karat number describes a layer. Price the layer, or expect almost nothing.
- Match the number to a row 585 is the 14K row. 750 is 18K. 916 is the 22K row. 375 is 9ct. 333 is 8K. 417 is 10K. 999 is the pure row.
- If there is no mark, stop guessing The real-gold guide lists the checks that are safe at home and the ones that belong with a jeweler. A magnet is not a karat test.
Two stamps on one necklace are normal: the chain and the clasp were made apart. Price them apart if the numbers differ. A single stamp on the clasp does not prove the chain.
Questions
What is the difference between karat and carat?
Karat measures gold purity out of 24 parts. Carat measures the weight of a gemstone, and one carat is 0.2 grams. A “1 carat” diamond says nothing about the gold in the setting.
Why does 14K get a 585 stamp if 14 ÷ 24 is 583?
Fourteen divided by 24 is about 58.3 percent, or 583 parts per thousand. The trade stamp 585 means 58.5 percent. Shops use 585 as the 14K mark. This site’s karat pages price 14K as 14 ÷ 24 and mention the stamp beside the result.
Is 916 the same as 22K?
916 means 91.6 percent gold. Twenty-two divided by 24 is about 91.7 percent. The market treats 916 as the 22K fineness mark, especially in India and the Gulf. The gap is a few parts per thousand.
Does a GP or GF stamp have scrap value?
Gold plated (GP) is a thin coat and is usually worth nothing as gold scrap. Gold filled (GF) is a thicker bonded layer, often 1/20 or 1/10 of the weight in gold alloy. It has some melt value and needs the gold-filled calculator, not the solid-karat formula.
Which karat is worth the most per gram?
Higher karat means more pure gold in each gram, so 24K is worth more per gram than 10K at the same spot price. A heavy 10K chain can still beat a light 18K stud, because weight matters as much as purity.
Are white gold and yellow gold the same purity?
They can be. White, yellow and rose describe the alloy metals, not the karat. An 18K white ring and an 18K yellow ring are both 18 ÷ 24 gold if the stamps are honest. White gold is often rhodium plated, which does not add a meaningful gold weight.
What if my piece has no stamp?
Unstamped metal can still be gold, and a stamp can be fake. Use the tests in “Is my gold real?” and then a jeweler’s test before you pick a row on this chart. Do not choose 14K because it is common.
This is a melt-value estimate, not an appraisal or an offer.