How do I determine the quality of silver and gold jewelry pieces?
The quality of gold is represented by karatage, or the amount of pure gold a piece of jewelry contains. The expression of karatage is tightly regulated, so you can usually trust the karatage amounts that jewelers advertise. The ideal karatage for a piece of gold jewelry is 18k or 14k. With silver jewelry, the piece should also come with a statement of the metal composition. For example, sterling silver will contain 92.5% silver. This composition should be accompanied by a quality stamp from the maker or a registered trademark.
