What is the karat value for pure gold?

A karat (not confuse it with carat, which is the measure of mass) is a measure of purity when referring to gold. Karat tells the number of parts, by weight, of gold in 24 parts of alloy. The higher the percentage of pure gold, the higher the karat.

Pure gold is 24K; 18K is 18 parts fine gold and 6 parts metal; 14K is 14 parts fine gold and 10 parts metal; and 10K is 10 parts fine gold and 14 parts other metal.

Most gold jewelry is never made from pure 24K gold, as it is quite soft. In this case, the gold is usually alloyed with base metals, altering its hardness, ductility and a lot of different properties. Copper, which gives the alloy a redder color, is the most frequently used metal.

The word karat comes from the carob seed. In ancient Asian bazaars, the seeds were used to balance scales that measured the weight of gold.