subject: 9 Carat Versus 18 Carat Gold. Which Should I Buy? [print this page] When you are searching for a new item of gold jewellery, whether it be a wedding ring, a pair of earrings or a necklace, you will be faced with the question of whether to buy 9 carat gold, 18 carat gold, 24 carat gold or something in between. Which should you choose and what are the advantages and disadvantages of each?
To start at the beginning, the carat rating tells us how pure the gold is. 24 carat gold is pure gold in other words, 24 parts out of 24 are gold. 24 carat gold, although it is a very pure and beautiful metal, is also very soft, and therefore needs to be alloyed with other metals in order to make it of practical use in jewellery making. 18 carat gold has 18 parts of gold per 24, so is 75% pure gold. Using the same calculation, 9 carat gold is 9/24 or 37.5% pure in other words, it contains more alloyed metals than gold. The other metals usually combined with gold to create 9 carat gold are copper, zinc, silver and palladium, in various combinations.
Which wears better?
Using the Vickers scale of hardness, 9 carat gold and 18 carat gold come out remarkably similar with scores of 120 and 125 respectively in fact, 18 carat is slightly harder. However, 9 carat is harder to bend, so is more likely to stay in shape over the years. Having said that 18 carat will retain its colour and lustre better than 9 carat gold.
What is the difference in colour?
This depends on what other metals are used in the alloy. Because 9 carat gold contains 62.5% of other metals, there is more opportunity to create different shades. For instance, 9 carat rose gold (which becoming increasingly popular because of its lovely colouring) contains nearly 60% copper, instead of the standard 52%. An alternative is white gold, which is much paler this contains around 57% silver. Some white gold items will be plated with rhodium, but this plating can wear off over the course of time, leaving the creamy-gold colour beneath. 18 carat gold is a much yellower colour, and you will notice the difference if you place a 9 carat gold item next to one that is 18 carats.
What is the difference in cost?
Unsurprisingly, 18 carat gold will be about twice as expensive as 9 carat gold the amount of gold in the alloy being the major factor. The cost of white gold will fall between the two, as it contains a substantial amount of silver. The difference in price between standard 9 carat gold and 9 carat rose gold is marginal.
So, What Should I Choose?
There is no doubt that 18 carat gold is the superior combination, so it will always be recommended for important items of jewellery, like wedding rings. Another important factor is the combination of different items of jewellery and how well they can sit next to each other for instance, if you already have a 9 carat gold engagement ring, then it may be advisable to complement it with a 9 carat gold wedding ring. If the colour of the item of jewellery is the most important factor in your choice, then dont be influenced so much by the purity of the alloy but allow yourself to be swayed by its look. White gold looks good on darker skins, whereas yellow or rose gold is great for lighter skins. As with so many things in life, the answer is never straightforward, but always comes down to personal choice.
by: Jarrod Catalli
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