Guide · Metals

14K gold vs sterling silver

By Thomas P., co-founder of I Want My Nugget

Each of our designs is cast in solid 14K yellow gold or in sterling silver, in the same shape. Below: what changes from one metal to the other.

Why 14K and not 10K?

10K is 41.7% gold: less than half of the ring. 14K is 58.5% gold, the first common karat where gold is the majority. The rest of the metal is alloy, and the more alloy, the paler the yellow; 14K keeps the warm color of our pictures.

10K costs less and is a little harder. Today we cast our gold rings in 14K. If you want the shape for less, the same ring comes in solid 925 sterling silver.

Fourteen parts in 24 is 58.3%. The fineness standard for 14 karat is 585 parts per thousand, or 58.5%, and our 14K is made to that standard.

Each design has one fixed price in 14K gold and one in sterling silver, the same at every size. No. 014The Block, for example, is $400 in sterling silver and $3,900 in solid 14K gold. See the 14K gold nugget rings.

Why not 24K? The FTC’s buying guide notes that pure gold is soft, which is why jewelry gold is mixed with other metals. More on purity in how to tell if a nugget ring is real.

What does 1 gram of 14K gold look like?

Small. One gram of 14K yellow gold takes up about 76 cubic millimeters, a cube about 4.2 mm on each side. Spread across the face of a dime, it would be 0.3 mm thick, under a quarter of the dime’s 1.35 mm. It holds 0.585 g of pure gold.

A dime weighs 2.268 g, so a gram of 14K weighs less than half a dime. At US size 10, our rings weigh from 3.7 g (estimated) in 14K. Each gold ring page shows the estimated weight at your size before you order. The men’s nugget rings page lists every design heaviest first, the women’s nugget rings page lightest first.

Sterling silver vs 14K gold

Same shape, different metal all the way through. Sterling silver holds no gold, looks like silver and is the less expensive of our two metals. 14K gold is gold through the whole ring, not only on the surface.

Sterling silver has one fixed price per design. Ask about upgrade availability and terms before planning a change to 14K gold.

What does 925 mean on a ring?

925 parts of silver per thousand: 92.5%. Under the FTC Jewelry Guides, a ring can only be called sterling silver if it is at least 925/1,000 silver. A stamp alone proves nothing, though: anyone can strike 925.

Does sterling silver tarnish?

Yes. Silver reacts with sulfur compounds in the air, such as hydrogen sulfide, and forms a dark layer of silver sulfide. A silver polishing cloth removes it, and each polish takes a little silver with it. Keeping the ring in a closed bag when you are not wearing it slows tarnish down.

If you would rather not polish, 14K gold is gold all the way through. See the sterling silver nugget rings.

What about vermeil and plated rings?

We don’t sell plated rings. Ours are cast solid in sterling silver or in 14K gold, and the metal you see is the metal all the way through. For buyers comparing the market, the FTC Jewelry Guides define vermeil as sterling silver coated with gold of a minimum thickness throughout equivalent to 2.5 microns of fine gold, and gold plate as a thinner layer over another metal; any gold layer wears eventually.

White gold, platinum and colored gold

We make our 14K rings in yellow gold only. For the other metals people compare them with:

White gold or yellow gold: which is more classy?

That is taste, and there is no measure for it. What can be measured is color. White gold is gold alloyed with whitening metals: in the US, nickel 95% of the time or more, otherwise mostly palladium. An industry index grades its whiteness, and the yellowest grade needs rhodium plating to look white.

Does platinum turn yellow like white gold?

No. Platinum is white without plating. On the yellowness index set by an industry task force (MJSA and the World Gold Council among its members), platinum scores 9.5. The best white gold grade is under 19, and the grade from 24.5 to 32 requires rhodium plating. When a thin plating wears through, the alloy’s own color shows.

Under the FTC’s guidance, an item called “platinum” without qualification should be at least 95% platinum.

What is the rarest color of gold?

There is no official ranking of gold colors. Purple and blue are the ones you will almost never see in a ring. Purple gold is the compound AuAl₂, about 79% gold; blue gold is AuIn₂, 46% gold. Both are usually brittle, which researchers Cretu and van der Lingen say makes their use in traditional jewelry virtually impossible.

They are cut and set like gemstones or used as inlays instead.

Everything else to check before you buy is in the nugget ring buying guide.