18K Gold Jewelry Review
Pure gold is not suitable for creating jewelry because it is too soft to be customized. Alloys of gold in making jewelry vary in carats. Carats are used to compare the purity of each gold alloys.
In relation to this, jewelers create different colored gold jewelry. Your jewelry is still gold even if it is alloyed with other metallic materials. The only difference in each is the percentage of gold that is used in producing the jewelry.
Karat is expressed in 24ths, making 24k gold 100% gold. In other words, purity of gold is measured from 1 to 24. 24 Karat gold is the softest and gold in its most purest form.
For 18K gold jewelry, 18 parts out of 24 are gold and the remaining 25% will be an alloy. The more alloys there is, the lower the karat value of gold. The higher the alloy content, the stronger and more durable the piece of jewelry will be. 18K gold is also used when a rich yellow color wants to be obtained in a certain piece of jewelry.
18K gold jewelry are obviously not as strong or hard as 14 or 10K gold and therefore will wear off sooner, but this fact does not cause any decline in popularity.
24K gold (at least in most instances) is too soft to be used in jewelry. 18k means that the ornament is made with 18 parts gold and 6 parts alloy (silver, copper, zinc etc). The color can be altered by mixing in different alloys, white gold is obtained by using platinum or palladium as alloys.
I recommend buying 18k jewelry as it will last you longer than 14k or 9k jewelry. Gold plated jewelry is basically any jewelry which has been electroplated with gold.
Ask for an authenticity certificate from the jeweler which states the purity of gold. Check if the jewelry has been rhodium plated, yellow gold can be rhodium plated to change its color to white but this will wear off soon.
When buying gold plated jewelry, check what base metal has been used, silver is the best option for base metal from a quality standpoint but will a little more expensive than other common metals.
18k gold jewelry can be a good choice for you.
