Karat-Gold vs Gold-Filled Jewelry.

I was telling a family friend about my jewelry website, when I referred to the set I had on (which was designed with 14K gold-filled wire). She looked at it and wanted to know how many karate it was. I told her it was 14K gold-filled and immediately I noticed the change in her eyes. She did not seem interested anymore, I knew I had to say something…

Let her know the value and beauty of gold-filled...gold-filled jewelry.

This is why I want to talk about karate and gold-filled. I have realized before entering the jewelry business, that people do not really appreciate gold-filled ( in Nigeria). Any gold jewelry without karat-gold rating is not considered as good quality. Even If you mention 14K, 10K, they tend to lose interest in jewelry giving reasons why they don’t want it.

Why?  Simply because the karat-gold rating is not 18. Most women,(Nigeria) prefer 18K-gold or more!

However, with the cost of gold rising continuously, it’s important to get value for your money when buying things especially jewelries. A lot of people love quality and expensive jewelries that come with karat-gold but, can they afford it?

With gold-filled  jewelry, you can get the look for less and also have quality jewelries.

So, what is the difference?

Karat-gold Jewelry

The jewelries are graded according to the number attached to the gold. The higher the number the higher the amount of gold and of course the more expensive.

Now, karat-gold is strictly measured in units of 24.  The karat weight of gold is measured by the gold’s purity while the alloy is the other types of elements added to the pure gold. Each of the numbers does represent the amount of pure gold in the jewelry.

Therefore 24 karat-gold is PURE gold. (100% gold)

10 karat-gold = 10 parts gold + 14 parts alloy (41.6% gold)

14 karat-gold = 14 parts + 10 parts alloy (50% gold)

18 karat-gold = 18 parts + 6 parts alloy (75% gold)

22 karat-gold = 22 parts + 2 parts alloys (91.7% gold)

24 karat-gold = All parts gold

The most common alloys used are copper, nickel and silver.

Gold-filled Jewelry

Gold-filled is made out of solid layer of gold bounded to the outer layer of a metal. This depends on the karat-gold used to fill or cover the metal. This means it could be 18K, 14K, or 10K gold used. As I earlier mentioned,, the higher the karat-gold, the more expensive.

Gold-filled jewelry can last for years (unlike gold plated jewelry). The amount of gold on gold-filled is approximately 100times thicker than gold plated. (Just want to let you also know the difference between gold plated and gold-filled).

 Its interesting to have gold jewelry that lasts for years for just a fraction of the cost. For those who can afford the karat-gold, all too good for you!  However, for a lot of people, karat-gold is simply too expensive so, they go for more affordable gold-filled jewelry which gives a similar look to karat-gold for a reasonable price. Whatever type of jewelry you decide to get, you are not losing out either way

I hope I have been able to clarify the whole confusion and misconception of karat-gold and gold-filled jewelry..

Please let me know if this is helpful.

t to let you know, the lady that inspired me to write this picked  from my collections!

"One's first step in wisdom is to question everything and one's last is to come to terms with everything" - George Christopher Lichtenberg

Linda Aliogo