QuestionI recently inherited a large amount of jewelry. In going thru it, I find a lot of pieces that appear to be gold marked .925 Italy. Looking on the web tells me this is a mark for Italian sterling silver. Is this mark ever associated with gold, and if so, does it translate into a karat value?
Thanks in advance for your help,
David
AnswerDear David,
I accidentally deleted my answer, complete but for one sentence and signature! Here we go once again.
The 925 mark is almost exclusively associated with sterling silver. In fact, years ago when a standard was needed for coinage, the standard of Sterling was put in place. The definition was 0.925 parts pure silver by weight, with the rest being another metal added for strength. The secondary metal is usually copper. Britain uses the "pound" and this is actually the "pound sterling". Do not think this means a British pound coin is worth a pound of sterling because it certainly is not. You might want to google the history of the British pound or "sterling silver" for a short but interesting read.
As for Italy, the numerical marking for sterling is accepted and recognized by manufacturers around the world and is the accepted standard for sterling silver,just as is a stamp using the word "sterling". This is the amount of pure silver by weight and if used on gold, which it is not, the karat would be figured by multiplying 09.25 by 24k. 24k is pure gold and if the metal was 0.925 pure gold, it would be 0.925 X 24K = 22.2k. There is a fair amount of 22k gold jewelry and much if from eastern countries. The mark is not 925 and is generally shown as 22 or another mark in the numerical system of that country. If decimal, it would be 0.917.
David, I do hope this brings clarity to your inquiry.
God Bless and Peace. Thomas.
