What Does 417 Mean On Jewelry?

You may have recently bought or been gifted a beautiful piece of gold jewelry and have decided to look at the marks stamped on it. While some of them are easy enough to figure out, such as “Italy,” meaning that the item was made in Italy, the three-digit number has you puzzled. What does 417 mean on jewelry?

417 is stamped on gold jewelry made in Europe as a measure of its purity in so-called millesimal fineness, or parts per thousand. 417 gold is 417 parts per thousand or 41.7 percent gold and 58.3 alloying metals and is equivalent to 10 karats in US measurement of gold purity.

If you have guessed that the number has something to do with the purity of the gold, you’re right. However, you may wonder precisely how pure 417 gold is, what other metals are in it, and the advantages and disadvantages of this type of gold. Let’s take a look.

417 Gold Is 10 Karat Gold

Although pure gold has the most intense golden color, great rarity, and a price tag to match, it is also a very soft metal with an orange tone that many people find unattractive for jewelry.

To enhance its visual appeal, and because it is so soft, jewelers generally alloy it with other metals for use in jewelry—these range from silver to copper, tin, and zinc. The different alloys result in the gold having different shadings of color and different hardnesses.

Gold items’ purity is expressed in karats in the US (written carats in Commonwealth nations), which are twenty-fourth parts of the whole. Karats are abbreviated with the symbol “K” or “KT” (or ct in the Commonwealth) so that pure gold is 24K or 24 karats. Gold for jewelry can come in 10K, 14K, and 18K forms, where the number indicates the number of karats that are composed of gold.

Despite using the same name (albeit with different spelling in the US), you should not confuse this unit of measurement with the carats used to measure the mass of diamonds.

The origin of this measurement system lies with the medieval German mark, which weighed 24 carats (the same unit of weight used for diamonds). People expressed the purity of these coins as the number of gold carats in the coin’s weight.

However, in Europe these days, a different system known as millesimal fineness is used to measure the purity of gold. Jewelry made in Europe is stamped with a three-digit number that indicates gold fineness in parts per thousand. A 417 stamp indicates that 417 parts per thousand are gold, or 41.7 percent of the whole, with alloying metals making up the rest of the total.

Because one karat is 4.1667 percent of the whole, a 417 (or sometimes, 416) stamp is equivalent to 10 karats. If you see a 417 symbol, you are dealing with some type of 10K gold, most likely made in a European country.

Although less than half of the total is gold, 10K gold is the legal minimum karatage to be considered gold by law in the US. Some other nations accept lower karatages such as 9K or 8K.

The US also allows gold to be under-karated by half a karat, with 9.5 karat gold legally sold as 10K, whereas it would not receive the 417 (or 416) fineness stamp.

What Other Metals Are In 417 Gold?

417 gold (10K gold) contains ten parts (41.7 percent) of gold and 14 parts (58.3 percent) of other metals such as silver, palladium, nickel, zinc, or copper. It comes in three primary color options: yellow gold, white gold, and rose gold, which differ in the alloying metals.

417 yellow gold contains 41.7 percent gold, 52 percent silver, and 6.3 percent copper, meaning that despite appearing yellow, it has more silver in it than pure gold.

417 white gold also contains 41.7 percent gold but is alloyed with silver, palladium, and zinc, usually 47.4 percent, 10 percent, and 0.9 percent, respectively. As with other karatages of white gold, jewelers typically apply a rhodium coating to 10K white gold jewelry.

417 rose gold contains 41.7 percent pure gold, silver, and copper, most usually in the ratio of 20 percent silver and 38.3 percent copper, which lends a soft, warm, pinkish cast to the color of the gold.

The Pros And Cons Of 417 Gold

417 fineness or 10 karat gold is the least pure form of gold typically used in jewelry and is the most impure gold that remains legally “gold” in the US and many other countries. Like other karatages of gold, it has certain advantages and disadvantages.

Advantages of 417 fineness gold are its price and durability, while disadvantages are its lower value, pale appearance, and potential to trigger allergic skin reactions.

Advantages Of 417 Gold

Because 417 fineness gold is only 41.7 percent gold or 10 out of 24 parts gold, it is less expensive than other forms of gold and finds widespread use in earrings and other affordable jewelry such as charm bracelets. It is, therefore, a good type of gold to consider if shopping on a tight budget.

However, high-end jewelers do not generally offer it as it is unpopular for fine jewelry such as engagement rings.

Another advantage of 417 (10K) gold is its durability. The lower gold content makes it less prone to bending, denting, or scratching, which would spoil the appearance of the jewelry. If you work in an environment filled with hard surfaces that could damage your jewelry, 417 fineness is a good option.

Disadvantages Of 417 Gold

Because of the low gold content in 417 gold, it has less value than gold with higher karatage and does not make such a good investment. If you buy gold for its resale value, it is worth considering forms with a higher percentage of pure gold in the mix.

Another disadvantage of 10K (417) gold is its pale, watery appearance. Although some people like the subtlety of coloration of this karatage of gold, many find it disappointingly lackluster compared to higher karatages such as 14K (585) gold.

However, the most significant disadvantage of 10 karat gold is that it can cause skin problems in people allergic to alloying metals. In addition to silver, zinc, and copper, which can cause allergic skin problems in some people, 10K gold is sometimes alloyed with iron or nickel. Nickel, in particular, is known to cause allergic contact dermatitis.

Although you could theoretically get contact dermatitis from any karatage of gold other than pure gold, it is far more likely with 10K gold due to the higher percentage of alloying metals in this karatage.

Conclusion

If you have bought or received a piece of gold jewelry with “417” stamped on it, now you know that it stands for 10 karat gold, or gold that is 41.7 percent pure. The exact alloy will depend on the color of the gold and the manufacturing jeweler. We hope that you will enjoy your jewelry item for many years.