A gemstone carat is a type of measurement used to describe the mass or weight of a gem.
Initially only applied to diamonds, the term carat now applies to most precious and semi-precious stones.
There must not be any confusion concerning gold karats and gemstone carats. There are two distinct types of measurement. Gold Karat is referring to gold purity and does not apply to mass. To learn more about the types of gold please read our previous post on Gold’s Purity.
When the term carat refers to a gem’s mass, it does not refer to the quality of the gem. Evaluating cut, clarity, and color, as well as carat, is the best way to select a gem. Carat size or weight can be measured on the metric scale. One carat is the equivalent of 0.2 grams.
