Karat, carat????
After being in a relationship for 2 years, he proposed well, the Shona way, of saying, honey, so when do you want me to pay lobola? Do you think tete (aunt) so n so will be able to come? #diaryofanafricanbride. . . the rest was history. Fast forward wedding preparations, we walked into a jewellery shop – Aurex Jewellery, and the salesperson asks, so what Karat/carat would you be interested in? We just looked at each other and smiled because we thought gold is gold, what could go wrong . . . ha ha ha! So, we ended up settling for 9k options, but it prompted me to find out more about this Karate/carat/karat (what I thought I heard then), which turned out to be karat
Image of gold bars, usually referred to be pure gold, and 24karat gold. 
In the jewellery world lingo, karat and carat are common words, frequently confused though. They sound the same and are often used interchangeably, in error. Karat is a measure of the purity of gold, the gold content in a piece of jewellery with pure gold being 24 karat. Carat on the other side is the unit of weight for precious stones and pearls, equivalent to 200 milligrams. Thus, Karat is a gold setting and a carat refers to the weight of a gemstone.
Most people loosely describe jewellery with little alloys as pure gold jewellery, but in fact the purest gold ever produced was 999,999 refined by Perth Mint in 1957, there is no such thing as 100% pure gold. Gold in its “pure” state is too soft and cannot be made into jewellery, therefore alloys are added to it to make it harder and more solid. A gold alloy is formed when a portion of gold is mixed with different metals with specific formulas which then yields jewellery of different karats, and in some instances yields gold in different colours as well, for instance yellow, rose and white gold. The amount of gold in the product is what is referred to as a karat or just k.
The karat setting/system is the determination of the amount of pure gold used together with alloys in a product. The karat system tests the amount of pure gold as a proportion of 24, being the purest form possible. There is 9k, which is 9 parts of gold, with a 9k having 37.5% gold content, 14k being 58.3%. There is also 18k and 22k. carat on the other hand is a unit of weight of gems and a carat is equal to 200mg 0.200g).
For all karat and gold colour options on jewellery, visit Aurex Jewellery at www.aurex.co.zw.
Our beautiful 9k rings from Aurex jewellery.
With this newfound knowledge, for the 10th anniversary, I’m sure I will settle for a 14k gold with a 1carat diamond, (that’s a whole lot of karats there, but well…) the power of knowledge……. Till we meet again…
Blog by:
Peterson Mandebvu
Juliet Paganga
