Karat is the system used to state the amount of pure gold an item contains. The higher the karat number, the higher the percentage of gold in your jewelry.

The system of measuring karats is based on a scale of 24, with 100 percent gold equaling 24 karats. Since 24K gold is usually considered too soft for jewelry, the gold in jewelry item is alloyed with other metals to strengthen and harden it. The karat mark tells us the ratio of pure gold to these other metals.

* 24 Karat (24K) gold is pure gold
* 22 Karat (22K) gold contains 22 parts gold and 2 parts of one or more additional metals, making it 91.6% gold
* 21 Karat (21K) gold contains 21 parts gold and 3 parts of one or more additional metals, making it 87.5% gold
* 18 Karat (18K) gold contains 18 parts gold and 6 parts of one or more additional metals, making it 75% gold
* 14 Karat (14K) gold contains 14 parts gold and 10 parts of one or more additional metals, making it 58.3% gold
* 12 Karat (12K) gold contains 12 parts gold and 12 parts of one or more additional metals, making it 50% gold
* 10 Karat (10K) gold contains 10 parts gold and 14 parts of one or more additional metals, making it 41.7% gold. In the United States, 10K gold is the minimum karat that can be called "gold"