Shopping for jewelry can be confusing. With the giving holidays coming up and “sight-unseen” online shopping risky, you should become familiar with terms that define value so you get the most quality for your jewelry dollar.

Our series begins with precious metals and will follow with the “rocks” that go in them.

Gold jewelry can be purchased in a variety of pureness levels. Pure gold is 24 karat gold and it is very soft and is not as durable as gold mixed with other metals, which is done to increase its hardness and durability. The more durable the gold, the less gold the jewelry contains. The karat quality indicates what proportion of gold is mixed with other metals. For example: 14K jewelry contains 14 parts gold and 10 parts of base metal. The higher the karat, the higher the proportion of gold. Therefore, 18K gold contains more gold than 14K jewelry.

Though not required by law, most jewelry carries karat quality. Near the karat mark, you should see the name or trademark of a company standing behind the mark (a name, symbol or initials). If you don’t see a trademark on jewelry, avoid it.

“Solid gold” refers to any karat gold, if not hollow. “Gold plate” means gold mechanically plated, electroplated or plated by other means to a base metal. Gold plating eventually wears away; how soon depends on how often the item is worn and the thickness of the plating.

“Gold-filled,” “gold overlay” and “rolled gold plate” are terms describing jewelry with a layer of at least 10 karat gold bonded to a base metal. The term or abbreviation should follow the karat quality of the gold used (for example, 14K gold overlay or 12K RGP). If the layer of gold is less than 1/20 of the total weight, markings must state the actual percentage of karat gold, such as 1/40 14K gold overlay.

“Gold electroplate” indicates a layer (10 karat gold minimum) deposited on a base metal by an electrolytic process. Gold “flashed” or “washed” describes products with extremely thin gold electroplating. This wears away more quickly than gold plate, gold-filled or gold electroplate.

Platinum (abbreviations Plat. Or Pt.) is a precious metal that costs more than gold and is usually mixed with “platinum group” metals: iridium, palladium, ruthenium, rhodium and osmium.

Platinum markings are based on parts per thousand of pure platinum. For example, “900 Platinum” means 900 parts out of 1,000 are pure platinum (90 percent platinum and 10 percent other metals).

Items containing at least 950 parts per thousand pure platinum can be marked simply platinum. Items with at least 850 parts per thousand can carry the amount of pure platinum and the word platinum or an abbreviation (925 platinum, 900 Plat. or 850 Pt.). Jewelry with less than 850 parts per thousand pure platinum, but with a total of 950 parts per thousand of platinum group metals (with at least 500 parts pure platinum), may be marked with the amount of pure platinum and the other platinum group metals. For example, “600 Plat. 350 Irid.” means 600 parts per thousand (60 percent) platinum and 350 parts per thousand (35 percent) iridium, totaling 950 parts per thousand of platinum group metals, and 50 parts per thousand (5 percent) other metals.

The words “silver” and “sterling silver” describe items that contain 92.5 percent silver. Silver products may be marked 925, meaning 925 parts per thousand are pure silver.

“Silverplate” indicates a layer of silver bonded to a base metal. The mark “coin silver” is used for compounds containing 90 percent silver. By law, quality-marked silver must bear the name or a registered trademark of the company or person standing behind the mark. Vermeil (ver-may), a type of gold plate, consists of a sterling silver base coated or plated with gold.

Next week: Part II – Gemstones.

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