What’s the difference between 10k, 14k, and 18k engagement rings?
If you’ve just begun the engagement ring buying process, you’re probably noticing that there are different grades of gold available. Fear not, this short excerpt will provide you with the all the info you need to make a sound decision.
If you’ve ever seen an old western movie, you may have noticed that cowboys sunk their teeth into gold coins to ensure their authenticity. If their tooth left an indent in the coin, it was in fact real gold. This is because gold, unlike most metals we are familiar with, is a very soft metal in its pure state How soft? Well, too soft to make durable jewelry with, as it dents, scratches, and scuffs easily.
So, metal crafters meld gold with other metals when making jewelry. They do this for not one, but two primary reasons:
Melding gold with more dense metals gives the finished product more durability.
Melding with inexpensive metals inherently reduces the total amount of gold in a piece of jewelry. This helps extend the total amount of gold jewelry that can be made and brings the price of the finished product down, making it more affordable and accessible.
After melding, the most common grades of gold that are produced are 10k, 14k, and 18k. These numbers are a representation of how much gold the item contains, as expressed in parts. Since 24k is pure 100% gold, the number 24 is used as the baseline.
10k means that 10 out of 24 parts are gold. Therefore, the remaining 14 out of 24 parts are not gold.
10/24 = 41.7% gold, with the remaining 58.3% being other metals.
14k means that 14 out of 24 parts are gold. Therefore, the remaining 10 out of 24 parts are not gold.
14/24 = 58.3% gold, with the remaining 41.7% being other metals.
18k means that 18 out of 24 parts are gold. Therefore, the remaining 6 out of 24 parts are not gold.
18/24 = 75% gold, with the remaining 25% being other metals.
Now that we’re armed with this info, we can discuss the pros and cons to each one. Since we know that gold is a soft metal, a 10k ring will traditionally have the most strength, while an 18k ring would be the most susceptible to damage, and 14k lying somewhere in the middle.
It is for this reason that I do not suggest getting an 18k engagement ring. Because it’s worn on the hands, the engagement ring is going to take a lot of abuse, even with people who are typically very gentle. Does your spouse cook? The ring will inadvertently get slammed on the counter top. Does your spouse shower? It’ll get accidentally banged off the shower wall. Does your spouse open doors? By default it’ll get scuffed from the door knobs.
Does this mean that we should ignore all 18k jewelry? No! However, 18k jewelry is best suited for when the jewelry is not susceptible to receiving constant damage, such as earrings.
So, this leaves us to choose between 10k and 14k. The engagement ring is likely going to be the only piece of jewelry that your spouse will wear every single day. While durability is a strong attribute, 10k gold jewelry has a higher content of other metals. These metals (most often nickel) can cause irritation. (Google ‘ring rot finger’ and you’ll see what I mean). Additionally, since 10k has less gold, it is almost always costs less than 14k. There are many instances in life where we can be frugal, but I would strongly advise against potentially associating the word ‘cheap’ with the most important piece of jewelry your spouse will ever have.
Since the likelihood of skin irritation decreases dramatically with 14k, and it still provides durability, it makes it the perfect blend for an engagement ring.
