Wallhangers
Hero Member
- Joined
- Jul 28, 2008
- Messages
- 897
- Reaction score
- 59
- Golden Thread
- 0
- Location
- SW Michigan
- Detector(s) used
- XP Deus, Minelab Explorer SE Pro, T2 SE
- Primary Interest:
- All Treasure Hunting
Took the day off today to hit some water. Cooler air is getting ready to blow in and the kids are back to school. I got permission to hit a local beach that is normally closed during the week but they said I could help myself. I hit the water in the roped off swim area, starting from deep and working my way shallow. Picked up items here and there and on my 3rd pass...bling! I was pretty excited until I seen that it said 14kP. I thought that meant that it was gold plated until I got home and looked it up on the internet and here is a copy and paste of what 14kP means...
This marking relates to some odd, and now obsolete, US laws. 14 karat means that an item is 14/24 gold with the remainder being other metals. The problem comes with the rounding. 13.88/24 would be rounded to 14k under the old US law and 13k under matching British law. Obviously, this could cause some confusion, especially for US manufacturers who want to sell in Europe. European customers simply didn’t believe the marks. They started using 14kp (the p stands for plumb) to mean that it is at least 14.00/24 parts gold. The rules have actually changed to where US manufacturers are using the same rules as the rest of the world but the 14kp system of naming still lives on. For new pieces, 14k and 14kp both mean that it’s at least 14.00/24 parts gold. In older pieces 14k might contain as little as 13.51/24.
Neil Beaty, GG ISA
Independent Appraisals in Denver
So anyway, I'm pumped! The other jewelry I found is all cheapies and the sunglasses and beads were a bonus I spotted on the surface. A little clad but the ring made my day.
This marking relates to some odd, and now obsolete, US laws. 14 karat means that an item is 14/24 gold with the remainder being other metals. The problem comes with the rounding. 13.88/24 would be rounded to 14k under the old US law and 13k under matching British law. Obviously, this could cause some confusion, especially for US manufacturers who want to sell in Europe. European customers simply didn’t believe the marks. They started using 14kp (the p stands for plumb) to mean that it is at least 14.00/24 parts gold. The rules have actually changed to where US manufacturers are using the same rules as the rest of the world but the 14kp system of naming still lives on. For new pieces, 14k and 14kp both mean that it’s at least 14.00/24 parts gold. In older pieces 14k might contain as little as 13.51/24.
Neil Beaty, GG ISA
Independent Appraisals in Denver
So anyway, I'm pumped! The other jewelry I found is all cheapies and the sunglasses and beads were a bonus I spotted on the surface. A little clad but the ring made my day.
Upvote
0
