Now that you are finding all those gold rings, silver rings and jewelry,
isn't it about time you know what those 10k, 14k, .925, .999, etc.
markings mean??

To start with, lets look at the gold markings. There are other conversion charts for
silver markings farther down the page. I'll try not to confuse you too much in the process!!


Imagine a metal pie with 24 equal pieces cut into it. Ten pieces are pure gold and the remaining fourteen are metallic alloy. To make all the pieces look the same and taste the same, you throw the pieces into a blender and when it comes out, you have a pretty, nice colored, appealing ring. The ten pieces of pure gold now have a content of alloy mixed in with it and it is now .416 percent gold. Divide 24 into the 10k (karat) marking on the ring and you get .41666666.

Pretty simple, huh???

GOLD CONVERSION CHART
GOLD MARKING
PERCENTAGE OF GOLD
FRACTIONAL EQUIVALENT
10k
.416 or 41.6%
10/24ths
12k
.500 or 50.0%
12/24ths
14k
.585 or 58.5%
14/24ths
16k
.666 or 66.6%
16/24ths
18k
.750 or 75.0%
18/24ths
20k
.833 or 83.3%
20/24ths
22k
.916 or 91.6%
22/24ths
24k
100% PURE GOLD
24/24ths PURE GOLD

Now that you understand that those tiny markings mean how "PURE" the gold is, lets try to
figure out how much that ring or piece of gold jewelry is actually worth in BULLION (scrap).

Jewelers and anyone dealing in gold, weigh gold just a little differently than you or I would. Instead of grams or ounces they use what is called a "PENNYWEIGHT", abbreviated "DWT". There are 20 pennyweight in a single ounce of gold and to figure out how much a pennyweight is in ounces, divide 20 into the actual pennyweight. Therefore, if you take your ring to a jeweler and he tells you your ring weighs in at a hefty 4 pennyweight, 4 divided by 20 is .2 ounces. The following chart has some of the standard calculations figured out for you.

PENNYWEIGHT TO OUNCES
PENNYWEIGHT
CALCULATION
OUNCES
2
2 divided by 20
.1 or 1/10th
4
4 divided by 20
.2 or 2/10ths or 1/5
6
6 divided by 20
.3 or 3/10ths
8
8 divided by 20
.4 or 4/10ths or 2/5ths
10
10 divided by 20
.5 or 5/10ths or 1/2
12
12 divided by 20
.6 or 6/10ths or 3/5ths
14
14 divided by 20
.7 or 7/10ths
16
16 divided by 20
.8 or 8/10ths or 4/5ths
18
18 divided by 20
.9 or 9/10ths
20
20 divided by 20
1 ounce of gold

With the information in the 2 charts above you can figure out approximatly how much that piece of jewelry is worth. Using the example a 14k ring, weighing 4 pennyweight (DWT), and the price of gold for the day is $300 an ounce, you can use the following method to determine if you are getting a fair price for your ring. 14k is .585 percent gold and multiplying by the weight of the ring, which is .2 OUNCES you get .117% of an ounce of pure gold (.585 x .2 = .117). Now if the price of gold is $300 simply multiply 300 by .117 and you get $35.10 BULLION price for your ring. To find the current price of gold check your local newspaper for the "spot" prices.
ALWAYS REMEMBER THAT IF THERE ARE STONES OR GEMS INVOLVED, GET AN APPRAISAL FROM A REPUTABLE JEWELER!

Now lets take a look at those pesky silver markings!

There are a number of different types of markings and some interesting facts about your silver coins
that you may wish to know, before cashing in your silver. Most of them are included in the chart below.

SILVER MARKINGS
SILVER MARKINGS
% OF SILVER
English silver
.800
Pre 1965 silver coins
.900
Marked ".900"
.900
"Sterling"
.900
Marked ".925"
.925
Marked ".999"
.999

That should cover all of the conversion charts that you will need to make sure you aren't getting ripped off when you decide to cash in some of your gold and silver finds. Remember what I mentioned earlier about the "stones, gems, rocks, etc.", get a jeweler that you trust and get an appraisal! Remember also that most gems are in the gold rings and if you see a hole from the bottom (inside) of the ring to allow the light to go through the gem or stone, chances are it is the genuine rock.
Another simple test for gold, is to take a fingernail file and insert it into the inside of the ring. Do not "scrape" the ring! With the file on "EDGE" put pressure on it with your hands to see if it makes a small indent in the metal. If it does, you have gold.

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