24-carat gold jewelry
24-carat gold jewelry: why is this precious commodity in short supply?
Since the dawn of time, gold has been the precious metal par excellence.
Today, however, gold of the highest purity is hard to come by. Indeed, 24-carat gold jewelry is becoming a rarity. How can we explain this phenomenon?
Gold and carat: what is the relationship between these terms?
The complexity of the procedures involved in obtaining pure gold partly explains the rarity of 24-carat gold jewelry. During mining, pure gold is not available in its natural state.
To obtain it, industrial refining is required.
Properties of 24-carat gold :
- Pure fine gold
- Malleable and tender
- Easy to fold
- Bright yellow color
Goldsmiths quickly realized the fragility of 24-carat gold, and decided to combine it with other, more solid metals (alloys, silver and copper, for example).
This gave rise to the term carat, which corresponds to the percentage of gold in a piece of jewelry.
Manufacturers are also reluctant to make jewelry in 24-carat gold because of the vagaries of gold. It is indeed difficult to polish fine gold.
Is there pure 24-carat gold jewelry?
To be precise, there are two methods for obtaining pure or 24-carat gold.
- The first is the Wohlwill process: a chemical process that purifies gold to the highest level of 99.999%.
- The second is the Miller process, which yields 99.5% pure gold, less than the gold produced by the Wohlwill process.
Despite the difficulty of design, some goldsmiths still offer jewelry in 24-carat gold.
But this is becoming increasingly rare in France and Europe.
A country where it is still common to find 24-carat gold jewelry:
- India
- Pakistan
- China
- Vietnam
- Cambodia
- Africa
It's a common misconception that our old French family heirlooms are made of 24-carat gold, in the belief that the quality of the yellow metal was more precious back in the day.
This is not the case, however, and family heirlooms are generally made of 18K (75%), which is still an excellent quality compared to our friends on the other side of the border, who may "only" have 14K, as in Germany or Greece.
Of course, those wishing to resell their precious jewelry can also visit GOLDMARKET for a transaction in complete confidence.
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