- Gold Fineness Explained
- Gold Fineness
Investment gold does differ from this as it works in quite the opposite way, Gold bullion coins and bars are not designed to be durable as they are rarely handled or moved from place to place, More often than not, Gold bars would be carefully stored in a safe or secure location only to be moved once a transaction has taken place, It is for this reason that gold bullion is often a much purer form of gold than is seen in other applications.
The international standard of the fineness of gold jewellery is the karat, Which is confusingly known as the ‘carat’ system in the United Kingdom ( Not to be mistaken with the carat system for precious gem stones ), This is a system you will likely have heard of many times before as jewellery is usually denoted by its purity ( E.g. a 9 carat gold ring ) or perhaps more likely abbreviated to a 9k gold ring.
- What About Investment Gold?
When you see this fineness value shown, It may be expressed as 9999, .9999 or 999.9 and is sometimes called ‘ Four nines ’ gold when you are discussing the item, All of these translate to an item which is investment-grade pure gold, Although this is the case for a gold bar to be recognised as investment grade gold by the London Bullion Market Association ( LBMA ), It is only required to be a fineness of 995.0 parts per thousand of fine gold - although many bars are designed to exceed this specification.
- How do the Standards Compare?
Percentage ( % ) |
Fineness ( Used For Precious Metal ) |
Carat ( Generally Used For Jewellery ) |
99.99% |
9999 |
24 |
99.50% |
995 |
No Equivalent Available |
99.90% |
999 |
No Equivalent Available |
91.66% |
9166 |
22 |
75% |
No Equivalent Available |
18 |
58.33% |
No Equivalent Available |
14 |
37.50% |
No Equivalent Available |
9 |