Expert: Thomas - 11/8/2009

Question
Received 2 rings from China today and decided to loop them to see what the carat weight was and noticed they were marked KT and not K like my other rings.  Is that the way they mark their rings/jewerly? I also looped my other rings and they were marked 10k or 14k.  Does it matter if it is marked K or KT. They were supposed to be 14kt.

Answer
Thea, thanks for this fine question.  Nowadays, it seems more and more people are concerned with the markings stamped into jewelry.

Generally, items for export to another country such as from China to the USA are by law supposed to carry markings accepted by the country into which the jewelry arrives.  In the UK, markings for imported items are provided but still are close to their standard markings. In the USA, the marks are generally just like the ones you would see on jewelry made in this country.

So, how is karat gold marked?  The important part of the mark is that the metal is clearly understood and that if the metal quality mark is there, the maker's mark is required also. This means the maker is "signing" the jewelry, stating that the metal quality is correctly stated. If not, there may be legal recourse.

What is a clearly understood mark for karat?  Essentially we have 3 ways to state karat: Karat, KT or K.  Any of those is just fine. Also, a numerical mark may be used showing the parts per thousand of pure gold in the metal alloy (the recipe for the jewelry gold).  14K (or 14KT) is generally according to the European standard for 14K which is a very, very slight bit above 14K: That numerical marking is 585.  The karat is actually 0.585 x 24k (24k is pure gold) = 14.04K.

Thea, there you are. : ) The k is just as good as kt or even putting the full work karat in there.


God Bless and Peace.  Thomas.