The Scottish Heirloom Company, like most jewellery manufacturers, produces our merchandise range in Sterling Silver, 10 kt (karat), 14kt and 18kt gold.

When choosing items in gold, customers are commonly reluctant to choose the higher karats of gold. This is not due to the higher prices, but they have heard that 18 kt gold is softer and will wear away faster than 10kt. Is this correct? - The answer is a definite "NO!".

This is usually a surprise to many customers and also to, strangely enough, many jewellery stores sales staff..

This incorrect belief is kind of understandable, as it is fairly well known that pure (24 kt) gold is too soft to be used in most jewellery and has to be alloyed with other metals to generate it harder and more durable. It is then believed that the more of the other metals that are added to the gold, the harder it becomes. The sales staffs in some jewellery stores, that mainly sell cheaper 10 kt gold items, also sometime state this idea in order to help sell the 10 kt items.

Here are the approximate maximum "Vickers" hardness values of the various Karats of gold. The higher the number, the harder the alloy.

10 kt