Are you sure the item is pure Gold ? Is it 14KT Gold ? It's advertised as 14KT, how can I tell ? I believe the old adage is buyer beware. You need to know just a few facts.

      First, since 1975 there is only one Gold requlation that is still on the books. It's called The Stamping Act. It simply means that the Karat markings or the purity markings on the piece of jewelry or bullion must be the exact composition of the piece. Furthermore the manufacturer should stamp next to the Karat alloy his Hallmark. The hallmark is the registered logo of the manufacturer to assure the buyer, this product meets or exceeds the federal regulatory guidelines. In short if the hallmark is not stamped buyer beware.

      You see two rings listed that look exactly alike. One is twenty percent cheaper. Is it a good buy, how do I know ?

All gold and precious metals are sold by weight and purity. Lets define what are precious metals. They are Gold, Silver, Platinum, Palladium, Rhodium, Iridium , Osmium and Ruthenium. Copper and Nickel are not precious metals. What is the terminology for the weights associated with precious metals. Precious metals are exchanged using Troy weights. Example one pound of potatoes is 16 ounces, one troy pound is 14.5833 ounces. One troy ounce is broken into 20 parts, each part is called a pennyweight. (An old English term) The abbreviation for pennyweight is dwt. So one twenteth of a troy ounce is a pennyweight. If you ask your jeweler the weight of a given item they will respond by saying 4 pennyweights or 8 pennyweights, wht ever the acutal weight is. There is also another measurment of weight and that is grams.There are 31.1033 grams in a Troy ounce.

     What does Karat mean and why is it used ? Well for some strange reason someone divided the purity of Gold into 24 parts, we think it was the English. The purest Gold is 24 Karat and the lowest is 1/24 or less. For the most part, jewelry is stamped 10, 14, 18 or 22 Karat Gold. So if I am buying a piece of jewelry stamped 14 KT it really means 14/24 purity which is 14 divided by 24 or 58.33 % Pure Gold by weight. So now you know weight and the purity, whats next ? The price of Gold that day. There are a lot of web sights where this information is displayed. The one I use the most is KITCO. The standard Gold market quoted is the Second London Fix  or the afternoon close for Gold in London. Todays price      (10-14-05) is around $475.00 per ounce.  So how do I know if I am getting a good buy. Gold price divided by the purity, times the weight, times 25% manufactures cost equals the cost of that itme to your retailer. ( Example Gold price $470.00, purity 14KT so we multiply 470.00 times .5833 equals $274.15 per punce. times 25% equals $68.54 manufacureters cost. The sum of 274.15 and 68.54 is $342.69per ounceof 14KT Gold.  we didive the ounce price by 20 pennyweights and that equals $17.13 per pennywight,  the ring weighs 6 pennyweights, we multyply 6 times $ 17.13, equals $102.80 for that ring. 

      I am a Chemist by Education and a Precious Metal refiner by trade I hate to see people taken advantage of. I have transacted business with the biggest and the smallest the best and the worst. I have been labeled one of the top ten precious metal refiners in the United States, by my piers.  

    If I can assist you in selling or buying please send  an e-mail to  peterp4884 on e-bay