JEWELRY FAQ

This Should Answer Most Of Your Questions About Loaning Or Selling Jewelry And Precious Metals With Axels Pawn Feel Free To Call If You Have Any Questions: (509)535-2251

• How do i determine the karat of my gold?

  The gold’s purity is measured in Karat and mostly categorized as 24, 22, 14, 10 and sometime 8 karats. A 24 Karat gold piece is comprised of 100 per cent gold and there is no alloy mixed into it. But ornaments and jeweler can’t be made of 100 per cent pure gold or 24 Karat gold as it is very soft and delicate. Most jewelry is made of 22 karat to 10 karat of gold. The purity of gold can also be measured in percentages and parts per thousand.

  To convert karats into the percentage, you need to divide the karat number by 24 and multiply the result by 100. So, for example, to find out the gold percentage in your 22 karat ring, divide 22 by 24, the result is 0.9166, so it equals to 91.66 per cent – that’s the purity of your gold.

  Also, an easy way to find out the purity of your gold jewelry is to look for the karat stamp on the jewelry piece. It is mandatory for jewelers to mark Hall Mark and gold karat on each and every gold piece.

  So, if your gold chain has “18K” marked onto it, this means that piece contains 18 parts gold and 6 parts of other metals. You can also convert this karat value into per centage with above-mentioned formula. It should come to 75 per cent gold content.
  Here are some of the frequently used karat marks and their corresponding percentages with respective parts-per-thousand values:
  24K – 99.9% (999)
  22K – 91.7% (917)
  20K – 83.3% (833)
  18K – 75.0% (750)
  14K – 58.3% (583)
  10K – 41.7% (417)

  Gold Purity Stamp	Purity	Silver Purity Stamp
  375	9 karat (37.5%)	800
  585	14 karat (58.5%)	925
  750	18 karat (75.0%)	958
  916	22 karat (91.6%)	999

  almost all real gold is stamped with a hallmark that signifies the karat weight of jewelry or other forms of gold.

• What are the four c's of diamonds?

  Color, Cut, Clarity, Carat

  Using these four attributes you can grasp the quality of a diamond and its beauty as well as compare all diamonds against each other.

  color

  Ironically, when speaking of grading a diamond for its color the meaning is actually the diamond’s lack of color (unless speaking on fancy colored diamonds). Colors are graded on a scale of D – Z (alphabetical). D being the purest and most lucid color, completely colorless. As you go down the alphabet the diamond gets a slight tone of color, yellow or brown. G color is considered to be the best value for money diamond color. And if you are mounting the diamond in a yellow gold setting and looking to save further – you can go down one more color grade to H.

  cut

  Unlike what most people think of when talking about a diamond’s cut – it does not refer to the diamond’s shape but rather to the quality of the diamond’s “make” for a given shape. Is the number of facets correct? How are they aligned one compared to the other? What about the size of the facets? Is it shallow or deep? Is a round diamond perfectly rounded? At the end of the day, the answers behind these questions (and more) reflect on how the diamond will… reflect. How the light will bounce off of it and how much brilliance and sparkle it will have. The grades that are given are on the scale of Fair, Good, Very Good and Excellent and are given for polish, symmetry and cut (fancy shapes don’t have a cut score).

  The more faceted the cut, the greater the sparkle. The most famous shape and cut, according to the Cape Town Diamond Museum, is the round brilliant, with 57 facets. Other popular cuts include the rectangular emerald (44 facets), the square princess (50 or 58 facets), the oval (56 facets), the slender marquise (58 facets), and the hybrid pear (58 facets).

  clarity

  Diamond clarity grade refers to the appearance of inclusions within the diamond or on it. Clarity measures the purity of the diamond and the presence (or absence) of tiny flaws. The clearer or more flaw free the diamond, the more brilliant and valuable it becomes. Internal flaws are referred to as inclusions, while external ones are called blemishes. Jewelers and gemologists use a scale from FL (flawless) to VVS (very, very slightly included) to SI (slightly included) to I (included), with number gradations for each category.
  The clarity chart goes as follows: FL, IF, VVS1, VVS2, VS1, VS2, SI1, SI2, SI3, I1, I2 and I3.
  While each diamond needs to be inspected for its own, an SI1 clarity diamond is considered to be an eye clean diamond – meaning a diamond with inclusion that you won’t see without magnification. Why pay to remove things you cannot see?

  carat weight

  Diamond’s carat refers to its weight. Note that while usually higher weight refers to a bigger diamond it doesn’t have to be the case – the way a diamond is cut has effect on it. Weight is very important when it comes to pricing of diamonds since diamonds are priced per carat and there are lots of tricks on how to manipulate it on your behalf and save a lot of money.

• How do you determine Jewelry Value?

  We will carefully weight the precious metal (gold or silver) and then evaluate any diamonds using the four c’s mentioned above.

  We continually update our gold and silver prices so we are sure to offer the most we are able. Since there are so many factors in evaluating jewelry, we are unable to provide any estimates without first fully evaluating the piece in hand.

• Do you purchase precious colored stones?

  we do, however without an appraisal from a reputable dealer in precious stones we do not allow much for them. Colored stones are difficult to verify and most smaller stones are not of the quality worht having appraised.