A friend, at work, said that rings can be made of just 24 karat gold. I said it is too soft, that 18 karats is the softest rings are made.
Don’t they paint plates with 24 karat gold?
Who is right?
You are. As you stated, 24kt is just too soft for any type of jewelry. I used to work in a pawn shop and saw more than my share of gold jewelry. Usually, men’s wedding bands are made of 10kt gold. This makes the ring tough and guys are usually pretty rough on rings. 14kt is used for most any kind of jewelry and is still pretty rugged. Occasionally, 18kt stuff would pop up, but it is easily scratched. Once in a while, a 22kt piece would pop up. This stuff usually came from the Middle East. The color is not very attractive, IMHO.
IIRC, plates are decorated with 22kt gold.
The standard in most European countries was 18kt, for a very long time.
Actually, there are a few rings made from 24k gold, but nowadays generally only solid plain thick wedding bands. 24k really is quite soft, but it’s manageable if the ring is plain and heavy and I guess some people must want 24k. I’ve seen them in a catalogue when I worked in jewelry, I forget the name of the company but it was the big thick catalogue that has everything under the sun in it: findings, loose stones, mountings, wedding rings, watches, clocks.
We see chains made of 24K gold. They come from Thailand(called “Baht” chains). Aslo some 24K chains from the Far East. They are used more for a store of value than heavy-duty jewelry.
In India, women will not consider jewelry made of anything but 22K gold. 18K? They’ll laugh in your face. It has to be 22 or forget about it.
I am appreciating your replies.