Fineness

Millesimal fineness

Millesimal fineness is a system of denoting the purity of platinum, gold and silver alloys by parts per thousand of pure metal by mass in the alloy. For example, an alloy containing 75% gold is denoted as "750". Many European countries use decimal hallmark stamps (i.e. '585', '750', etc.) rather than '14K', '18K', etc., which is used in the United Kingdom and United States.

It is an extension of the older karat system of denoting the purity of gold by fractions of 24, such as "18 karat" for an alloy with 75% (18 parts per 24) pure gold by mass.

The millesimal fineness is usually rounded to a three figure number, particularly where used as a hallmark, and the fineness may vary slightly from the traditional versions of purity.

Here are the most common millesimal finenesses used for precious metals and the most common terms associated with them.

Platinum

999.5: what most dealers would buy as if 100% pure; the most common purity for platinum bullion coins and bars

999—three nines fine

950: the most common purity for platinum jewelry

925

900—one nine fine

850

750

Gold

999.999—six nines fine: the purest gold ever produced. Refined by the Perth Mint in 1957.

999.99—five nines fine: the purest type of gold currently produced; the Royal Canadian Mint regularly produces commemorative coins in this fineness

999.9—four nines fine: e.g., ordinary Canadian Gold Maple Leaf and American Buffalo coins

999—24 karat, also occasionally known as three nines fine: e.g., Chinese Gold Panda coins

995: the minimum allowed in Good Delivery gold bars

990—two nines fine

986—Ducat fineness: formerly used by Venetian and Holy Roman Empire mints; still in use in Austria and Hungary

958.3—23 karat

916—22 karat: historically the most widely used fineness for gold bullion coins; currently used for British Sovereigns, South African Krugerrands and American Gold Eagles

900—one nine fine: mostly used in Latin Monetary Union mintage (e.g. French and Swiss "Napoleon coin" 20 francs)

834—20 karat

750—18 karat

625—15 karat

585—14 karat

417—10 karat

376—9 karat

333—8 karat: minimum standard for gold in Germany after 1884

Silver

999.99—five nines fine: The purest silver ever produced. This was achieved by the Royal Silver Company of Bolivia.

999.9—four nines fine: ultra-fine silver used by the Royal Canadian Mint for their Silver Maple Leaf and other silver coins

999—fine silver or three nines fine: used in Good Delivery bullion bars and most current silver bullion coins

980: common standard used in Mexico ca. 1930–45

958—Britannia silver

950—French 1st Standard

925—Sterling silver

917: a standard used for the minting of Indian silver (rupees), during the British raj

916.66—11/12: the standard established by Maryland state law in 1814 for all silver sold in Baltimore. Last used in 1843.

900—one nine fine or 90% silver: e.g., all 1792–1964 U.S. silver coins

835: a standard predominantly used in Germany after 1884, and for the minting of coins in countries of the Latin Monetary Union

833: a common standard for continental silver especially among the Dutch, Swedish, and Germans

830: a common standard used in older Scandinavian silver

800: the minimum standard for silver in Germany after 1884; Egyptian silver; Canadian silver circulating coinage

750: an uncommon silver standard found in older German, Swiss and Austro-Hungarian silver

720: e.g., many Mexican and Dutch silver coins

500: Standard used for making British coinage after 1920

Karat

The karat (not carat as a unit of mass; symbol: K or kt; US) or carat (symbol: C) is a fractional measure of purity for gold alloys, in parts fine per 24 parts whole. The karat system is a standard adopted by US federal law.

Measure

Karat purity is measured as 24 times the pure mass divided by the total mass:

K = 24 M g M m

where

K is the karat rating of the material, M g is the mass of pure gold in the alloy, and M m is the total mass of the material.

Therefore, 24-karat gold is pure (while 100% purity is unattainable, this designation is permitted in commerce for 99.95% purity), 18-karat gold is 18 parts gold, 6 parts another metal (forming an alloy with 75% gold), 12-karat gold is 12 parts gold (12 parts another metal), and so forth.

In England, the karat was divisible into four grains, and the grain was divisible into four quarts. For example, a gold alloy of 381 384 fineness (that is, 99.2% purity) could have been described as being 23-karat, 3-grain, 1-quart gold.

The karat fractional system is increasingly being complemented or superseded by the millesimal system, described above.

Conversion between percentage of pure gold and karats:

58.33–62.50% = 14K (acclaimed 58.33%)

75.00–79.16% = 18K (acclaimed 75.00%)

91.66–95.83% = 22K (acclaimed 91.66%)

95.83–99.95% = 23K (acclaimed 95.83%)

99.95–100% = 24K (acclaimed 99.99%)

Volume

However, this system of calculation gives only the mass of pure gold contained in an alloy. The term 18-karat gold means that the alloy's mass consists of 75% of gold and 25% of alloy(s). The quantity of gold by volume in a less-than-24-karat gold alloy differs according to the alloy(s) used. For example, knowing that standard 18-karat yellow gold consists of 75% gold, 12.5% silver and the remaining 12.5% of copper (all by mass), the volume of pure gold in this alloy will be 60% since gold is much denser than the other metals used: 19.32 g/cm³ for gold, 10.49 g/cm³ for silver and 8.96 g/cm³ for copper.

This formula gives the amount of gold in cubic centimeters or in milliliters in an alloy:

V Au = M a × k t 24 19.32

where

V Au is the volume of gold in cubic centimeters or in milliliters, M a is the total mass of the alloy in grams, and k t is the karat purity of the alloy.

To have the percentage of the volume of gold in an alloy, divide the volume of gold in cubic centimetres or in millilitres by the total volume of the alloy in cubic centimetres or in millilitres.

For 10-carat gold, the gold volume in the alloy represents about 26% of the total volume for standard yellow gold. Talking about purity according to mass could lead to some misunderstandings; for many people, purity means volume.

Etymology

Karat is a variant of carat. First attested in English in the mid-15th century, the word carat came from Middle French carat, from Italian carato, both which came from Greek kerátion (κεράτιον) meaning carob seed (literally "small horn") (diminutive of κέρας - keras, "horn"), also from Arabic qīrāṭ meaning "fruit of the carob tree", also "weight of 4 grains", (قيراط) and was a unit of mass though it was probably not used to measure gold in classical times.

In 309 CE, Roman Emperor Constantine I began to mint a new gold coin solidus that was  ¹⁄₇₂ of a libra (Roman pound) of gold equal to a mass of 24 siliqua, where each siliqua (or carat) was  ¹⁄₁₇₂₈ of a libra. This is believed to be the origin of the value of the karat.

Fine weight

A piece of alloy metal containing a precious metal may also have the weight of its precious component referred to as its fine weight. For example, 1 troy ounce of 18 karat gold (which is 75% gold) may be said to have a fine weight of 0.75 troy ounces.

Troy mass of silver content

Fineness of silver in Britain was traditionally expressed as the mass of silver expressed in troy ounces and pennyweights (1/20th of a Troy ounce), in one troy pound (12 troy ounces) of the resulting alloy. Britannia silver has a fineness of 11 troy ounces, 10 pennyweights, or about 95.83% silver, whereas sterling silver has a fineness of 11 troy ounces, 2 pennyweights, or about 92.5% silver.