How Karats Affect Your Gold Jewellery

10K, 14k, and 18k gold each have their own advantages and disadvantages, ranging from durability and cost to purity and appearance.

In this blog post we'll explain the key differences between 10k, 14k, and 18k gold jewellery. 

How Karats Affect Gold Jewellery

1. Colour of Gold Jewellery

Purity – which is expressed in karats – is the most common metric used to refer to gold jewellery. Pure 24k gold appears as an intense orange-yellow, whereas 10k, 14k, and 18k gold are lighter in colour. The difference in colour between 10k and 14k is often undetectable to the naked eye.

2. Susceptibility to Scratching

Interestingly, the gold used for jewellery isn’t actually pure gold — instead, it’s always a mix of gold and other metals. In its purest form, gold is far too soft and malleable. This means that when pure gold is used to make an engagement ring, necklace or watch, the finished product is very easy to scratch, dent, warp or damage in other ways. So if you're looking for jewellery to wear everyday (in particular, rings), less pure is actually better (10k gold). 

3. Value and Price

The purer the gold, the more valuable; and thus more expensive. For this reason, people tend to purchase heirloom jewellery with precious gem stones in 14k gold. In contrast, jewellery intended for everyday wear is often purchased in 10k gold because of its affordability factor.

Not sure if you want 10k or 14k gold jewellery? Read our Shopping Guide blog post here. 

About Misc. Jewellery

Misc. Jewellery is made up of a strong network of Toronto-based jewellers and vendors. Timeless jewellery. Zero supply chain markup. We get it straight from the source. Shop classic Canadian fine jewellery here.