Gold Karats, the Dummy Version

karat marking on inside of a gold ring

We suspect that Bugs Bunny is only interested in one spelling of the word that sounds like "carrot," but there are at least three additional homophones for that spelling. We'll leave aside the diacritical mark known as a "caret" ( ^ ) for now to concentrate on the other two, "carat" and "karat." The fact that the two words are both used by the jewelry industry confuses many people, and that apparently includes both the person who originally asked "How to Identify the Carat of a Gold Ring" and the Demand Media drone who "answered" the question for DMS¹ site Leaf.tv, someone named Rae Casto.

Rather than immediately informing the OQ that a "carat" is a measure of the weight of a gemstone and that gold's purity is expressed in "karats," Casto opened with the inane statement that

"Whether your gold is old or new, its purity is measured in carats and is discreetly stamped on each piece of gold jewelry."

Which, by the by, is not quite correct: the purity (in karats) is supposed to be stamped on each piece, but may not be; and, more to the point, may be worn off or otherwise missing in the jewelry known to the trade as "broken gold."

Rae then launches into a discussion of where to look for what she calls "carat count," pretty much getting the location of the purity mark correct (although she continues to misidentify it as "carats"). Once complete, Casto provides an overly-brief explanation of the meaning of the numbers you might find on your jewelry: "A carat code identifies the gold content, maker and origin of each piece of jewelry. 'Pure' 24-carat gold is only 99.9% pure. Gold is a soft metal that is not durable unless mixed with other alloys. Most jewelry is not 24-carat gold." Actually, no jewelry is any "carat" gold, Rae. It might have been useful for your readers if you had explained what the markings 10K, 14K, 18K, etc. mean; though that might have necessitated explaining why the letter is a K instead of a C... Oh, and by the way? Gold is mixed with other metals to make a more durable alloy, not "mixed with other alloys"!

More to the point, most people are smart enough to find the 10K on the inside of a ring, so it's not unlikely that the OQ wanted to know how to test for purity. That's a question Casto completely ignored. Suffice it to say, you'd need a little test kit with a file, some carbon and a couple of reagent bottles -- it's not that difficult.

Rae not only screwed the pooch with the whole carat-karat thing, she also made multiple mistakes in describing the alloy process and in failing to mention testing for purity. You know what that makes Casto, right: the Dumbass of the Day.

¹ DMS = Demand Media Studios, which recently changed its name to Leaf Group. You still can't spell "dumbass" without "DMS," though...

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