| Karat Gold | Parts Gold | Percentage Gold | Normal Stamping |
| 9 kt | 9 in 24 | 37.50% | 375 |
| 10 kt | 10 in 24 | 41.67% | 416 |
| 12 kt | 12 in 24 | 50% | 500 |
| 14 kt | 14 in 24 | 58.33% | 583 or 585 |
| 18 kt | 18 in 24 | 75% | 750 |
| 22 kt | 22 in 24 | 91.67% | 917 |
| 21 kt | 21 in 24 | 87.5% | 875 |
| 24 kt | 24 in 24 | 99.99% | 999 or .99999 |
Why is gold more than just another precious metal ?
As gold was perceived as an ideal store of wealth, its importance as a medium of exchange in trade grew. Finally, this lead to the invention of gold currencies. However, instead of exchanging real gold coins, it would be enough to only exchange the right on or the promise of a certain amount of gold. Paper money was born. As a result of the times when currencies were backed by gold, many financial institutions (central banks, the IMF etc.) hoard large quantities (several thousands of metric tons) of gold until today. Up until 1971, the US-Dollar was one of these gold backed currencies. Since many other countries linked their own currencies to the Dollar by more or less fix exchange rates, gold was de-facto the world currency.
