All You Need to Know about Purity and Fineness of Gold Coins & Bars

When buying gold, everyone looks for how pure is the metal. Buying gold in India is looked at as a good investment and buyers want to be sure that they get the most value for their purchase. Looking for purity and fineness of Gold coins & Bars ensures that you get full value for the entire gold component.

What you will learn from this Article?

There is a lot of information about determining the purity of gold. Also, when people visit jewellers, they get different versions of purity of gold. In this article, we will depict the difference between purity and fineness of gold. After reading the article, you will understand the importance of both and will be able to make better gold purchases.

What is Purity and Fineness of Gold Coins & Bars?

First off, there is a difference between purity of gold and the fineness of gold. Even though, the words are used interchangeably for their meaning, there is a difference. Purity and fineness essentially describe the same thing but the difference lies in the way they are measured.

Purity and fineness of a metal can be depicted in many ways but in this article, we will discuss the two most common ways. Purity and fineness both, refer to the ratio of the amount of the actual metal in comparison to the filler metal.

Most commonly, purity of gold is measured in carat. It is seen as 24ct, 22ct, 18ct and so on or 24k, 22k and 18k. Fineness differs is mostly printed on gold coins and bars as 999, 916, 750 and so on.

Carat is calculated by dividing the actual weight of the gold by the total weight of the coin or bar. This amount is then multiplied by 24 and the resulting number depicts the purity of gold. The same calculation is used to check the fineness. Instead of multiplying by 24, the number is multiplied by 1000, which results in numbers such as 999.9, 916.6 and 750.0. These can be interpreted as 99.99% pure, 91.6% and 75% pure.

Why Check Purity and Fineness of Gold Coins & Bars before Buying?

Pure gold is a soft material and can be twisted and dented easily when handled roughly. This is the reason why other metals are added to it when making gold jewellery. It makes the ornament strong. It is advisable to buy pure gold bars for investment as they are rarely handled and there is no danger of destroying the soft metal.