Karat to percentage, and how much pure gold is in a piece
In short
Karat is parts of gold in 24: 14k is 14 ÷ 24 = 58.3% gold, 18k is 75.0%, 10k 41.7%, 24k about 99.9%. Fineness says the same thing in thousandths, which is what the 585 and 750 stamps are. A 10 gram 14k ring therefore holds about 5.85 grams of gold, worth $829.16 at spot today. Enter either the karat or the stamp below, add the weight, and the pure gold content and value follow.
- 24k (99.9% gold)
- 22k (91.6% gold)
- 21k (87.5% gold)
- 18k (75% gold)
- 14k (58.5% gold)
- 12k (50% gold)
- 10k (41.7% gold)
- 9k (37.5% gold)
Spot $4,408.50/oz t = $141.74/g · gold-api.com · 2026-09-04
Karat, percent and fineness side by side
| Karat | Gold by weight | Fineness stamp | Where you see it |
|---|---|---|---|
| 24k | 99.9% | 999 / 9999 | bullion, some Asian jewelry |
| 22k | 91.6% | 916 | Indian and Middle Eastern jewelry |
| 21k | 87.5% | 875 | Middle Eastern jewelry |
| 18k | 75.0% | 750 | fine jewelry worldwide |
| 14k | 58.3–58.5% | 583 / 585 | the US standard for everyday gold |
| 10k | 41.7% | 417 | the US legal minimum to be called gold |
| 9k | 37.5% | 375 | UK and Australian jewelry |
| 8k | 33.3% | 333 | German and Scandinavian jewelry |
The 14k row has two numbers on purpose. Fourteen twenty-fourths is 58.33%, and US law lets a piece marked 14K sit at that fraction; the 585 stamp used across Europe and by many American makers means 58.5%. The gap is two thousandths, worth about $0.28 per gram, so for anything but a large lot it is a footnote. The calculator uses 58.5% when you pick 14k and the exact fraction when you type a fineness.
Karat by country
What counts as gold depends on where you stand. The United States draws the line at 10k; anything below cannot be sold as gold, so 9k British jewelry is imported as "gold-colored." Britain, Ireland and Australia sell 9k (375) as their everyday standard and hallmark it. Germany and Scandinavia go to 8k (333). Italy, France and Switzerland rarely make anything below 18k (750), and French law treats 18k as the floor for "or." India, the Gulf states and much of Southeast Asia default to 22k (916), with 21k (875) common in the Middle East and 24k (999) in Chinese and Thai jewelry, where gold is bought partly as savings. None of this changes what a gram of gold is worth; it changes how much gold is in the piece in your hand.
Why a percentage is not the whole story
The rest of the alloy decides color and hardness, not value. Copper pushes gold toward rose, silver and zinc toward pale yellow, nickel or palladium toward white; white gold is then usually rhodium-plated, which is why it looks brighter than its 75% gold content suggests and why the plating wears off at the back of a ring. A 14k rose ring and a 14k white ring hold the same gold and are worth the same at melt.
Higher karat is softer. 24k bends under a fingernail, 22k is fine for pieces that are not knocked about, 18k is the compromise most of the world makes for fine jewelry, and 14k is the American default because it survives daily wear. If a piece is described as solid gold with no karat, ask: solid only means it is not hollow or plated, not that it is pure.
Green, blue and purple gold
Green gold is gold alloyed with silver and little copper, a pale greenish yellow used for leaves and accents. Blue and purple gold are brittle compounds of gold with indium or aluminum, cut and set like stones rather than worked like metal. Black gold is a plating or surface treatment. All are priced on their gold fraction like any other karat.
Retail value versus scrap value
A new 14k ring sells for two to four times the value of its gold, and the gap is not a swindle: it pays for design, casting or hand work, stone setting, the maker's margin and the retailer's. When the ring goes back the other way, only the gold is bought, at a share of its melt value, because the labor cannot be resold. So a 6 gram 14k band that holds $497.50 of gold at today's spot might retail for $1,492.49 and sell back for $373.12. The gold content is the one number that stays fixed through all three prices, which is why it is worth knowing before either transaction.
Gold content of common pieces
Weights vary with design, but a few reference points: a plain 14k wedding band of 4 to 6 grams holds 2.3 to 3.5 grams of gold; a 20 inch 14k chain of 4 mm width weighs around 25 grams, of which about 14.6 grams are gold; a pair of 18k stud settings without stones is often under a gram of gold in total. Weigh, do not estimate: a kitchen scale reading in grams is accurate enough, and remove stones or note their share of the weight.
Beyond the karat stamp
The number tells you the fraction; the letters around it tell you whether the fraction applies to the whole piece. GF, GP, HGE and RGP mean the karat describes a layer over base metal, and the calculator above will overstate the gold by a factor of twenty or more if you enter a plated piece's karat and full weight. KP means the karat is exact. 925 means silver. The stamp decoder handles all of these; use it first if the stamp has letters in it.
Questions people ask
What percentage of gold is 14k?
58.3% by the strict 14/24 fraction, 58.5% when stamped 585. The other 41.5% is copper and silver in yellow gold, mostly copper in rose, and nickel or palladium with copper and zinc in white. Two 14k rings in different colors therefore hold identical gold and differ in everything else: hardness, tone, and how they behave against skin.
How much gold is in a 14k gold ring?
Its weight times 0.585. Wedding bands run 3 to 8 grams, so a 5 g band holds 2.9 g of gold ($414.58 at spot) and an 8 g band 4.7 g ($663.33); a 12 g men's signet holds 7 g. Weigh rather than guess: a hollow shank and a heavy shank look alike and differ by a factor of two.
What is the difference between karat and carat?
Karat with a k is gold purity, parts in 24. Carat with a c is gemstone weight, exactly 0.2 grams. British and Australian jewelers spell gold purity carat as well, 9ct and 18ct, which is where the collision comes from; on a stamp, 18ct and 18k are the same 75% gold.
Is 10k gold real gold?
Yes. It is 41.7% gold, the lowest karat the United States allows to be called gold; 9k in Britain and 8k in Germany are legal there and would not pass as gold on an American label. 10k is real, cheap and tough. It is also the karat most likely to leave a green mark, because more of it is copper than gold.
Which is better for a wedding ring, 14k or 18k?
14k for hands that work or lift: it is measurably harder and holds $23.38 less gold per gram, so a 6 g band costs less and hurts less to lose. 18k for color and gentler wear; it scratches within months, which most owners stop noticing. Resale follows gold content exactly, so 18k returns more at melt, and neither returns anything like its retail price.
How much pure gold is in a troy ounce of 14k?
18.2 grams, because a troy ounce is 31.1 g and only 58.5% of 14k is gold. That is why a quote for 14k per ounce sits 41.5% below the spot price in the news: same ounce, less gold in it.