A plain-English precious metals glossary

Gold and silver come with their own vocabulary, and some of it is centuries old. We've kept each definition short. If you want to know what the stamps on your own pieces mean, our guide to reading gold and silver stamps goes into more detail.

A

Alloy

A mix of two or more metals. Pure gold is very malleable, so jewellers alloy it with other metals to make it more durable, and sometimes to change its colour.

Assay

A test to find out how pure a piece of gold or silver is. In Britain, an assay office tests pieces before it hallmarks them.

B

Britannia silver

Silver that is 95.84% pure, finer than sterling. Britain introduced the Britannia standard in 1697, marked with a seated figure of Britannia and a lion's head. Today its fineness is written as 958.4 parts per 1,000.

Bullion

Bars and coins made of precious metals like gold, silver, platinum and palladium. Their value is based mainly on their metal content and the market price of that metal.

Bullion coin

A precious metal coin made by an official mint for investment and valued by its weight and fineness. Canada's Maple Leaf is a well-known example.

C

Carat

This word has two meanings. For gemstones, a carat is a unit of weight: 0.2 grams. The United States adopted this metric carat in 1913, and most other countries followed. For gold, carat is another spelling of karat, and Canada's rules accept karat, carat, K, Kt, C and Ct.

Cupellation

A way of separating gold or silver from other metals. The metal is melted in a cupel, a porous dish that can take high heat, while hot air blows over it. Impurities like lead and copper oxidize and are partly burned off and partly soaked up by the cupel, leaving the precious metal behind.

D

Date letter

A letter in a British hallmark that shows the year a piece was marked. London introduced it in 1478. Today it's optional, and it changes every year on January 1.

E

Electrum

A natural or man-made alloy of gold with at least 20% silver. The first known coins in the Western world were made of it, probably in the kingdom of Lydia, in what is now Türkiye.

EPNS

Short for electroplated nickel silver: a base of nickel silver with a thin layer of silver on top. George Richard and Henry Elkington made electroplating commercially viable, and licences to use it were sold widely in the 1840s.

F

Fineness

Purity measured in parts per 1,000. A gold bar of .995 fineness is 995 parts gold and 5 parts other metal. Sterling silver is 925 fine.

G

Gold filled

A layer of gold bonded to another metal by a mechanical process. In Canada, the gold must be at least 10K and make up at least one-twentieth of the piece's weight. A typical mark reads "1/20 10K G.F."

Gold plated

A layer of gold, at least 10K in Canada, over another metal. It may also be marked "gold electroplate" or G.E.P. If the thickness is marked, it must be at least 1 micron.

Gold-to-silver ratio

The number of ounces of silver you can buy with one ounce of gold. Read more on our gold-to-silver ratio page.

H

Hallmark

In Britain, the set of marks an assay office strikes on a piece after testing it: the sponsor's mark, the fineness mark and the assay office mark. The word most likely comes from Goldsmiths' Hall in London, home of a permanent assay office since 1478.

K

Karat

Gold purity measured in 24ths, with 24 karats being pure gold. So 18K is 18 parts gold out of 24, or 75%. In Canada, gold can't carry a quality mark below 9K.

L

LBMA

The London Bullion Market Association, formally incorporated in 1987 to represent the wholesale bullion market. Its Good Delivery List is considered the international standard for gold and silver bars.

M

Maker's mark

A mark that shows who made a piece, or who sent it for hallmarking. It became a requirement in 1363. In a modern British hallmark it's called the sponsor's mark: at least two letters inside a shaped border.

Maple Leaf

The Royal Canadian Mint's bullion coins. The Gold Maple Leaf was introduced in 1979 and became the first bullion coin to reach 99.99% purity. The Silver Maple Leaf, in 99.99% silver, was first issued in 1988.

Melt value

The value of the precious metal you could get from an item if it were melted down. It depends on the weight, the purity and the day's market price.

N

Nickel silver

A family of copper, nickel and zinc alloys that look silvery but contain no silver. It became a popular base for silver plating.

Numismatic

Having to do with the study or collecting of coins and paper money. A coin's numismatic value can go beyond its metal, based on things like rarity, condition, design and history. See old Canadian silver coins.

P

Pennyweight

A unit used for weighing precious metals. One pennyweight is about 1.555 grams, and 20 pennyweights make one troy ounce.

Precious metals marking

In Canada, the rules for stamping and advertising gold, silver, platinum and palladium, set by the Precious Metals Marking Act and its regulations and overseen by the Competition Bureau. Marking is optional, but any mark that's used must be true.

Q

Quality mark

Any mark that shows the kind, purity or amount of precious metal in a piece, such as 14K or sterling. In Canada, a quality mark must come with a Canadian trademark that's registered or applied for, unless the piece was hallmarked in the UK or correctly marked under another country's laws.

R

Rolled gold plate

Like gold filled, but with less gold: in Canada, at least 10K gold making up less than one-twentieth of the piece's weight. A typical mark reads "1/30 10K R.G.P."

Rose gold

Gold alloyed with copper, which gives it a soft pink colour.

S

Scrap gold

Old or broken gold sold to be recycled. Jewellery makes up roughly 90% of recycled gold, and recycling has made up around 30% of the world's gold supply over the past 20 years, according to the World Gold Council.

Spot price

The live price at which gold or silver in raw form can be bought or sold for immediate delivery. It changes throughout the day.

Sterling silver

Silver that is 92.5% pure, traditionally with 7.5% copper. England set the standard in a law of 1300. In Canada, "sterling" and "silver" marks both mean at least 925 parts silver per 1,000.

T

Troy ounce

The standard unit for weighing gold and silver. One troy ounce is 31.1034768 grams.

V

Vermeil

Sterling silver plated with gold. In Canada, the silver must be at least 925 and the gold at least 10K.

W

White gold

Gold alloyed with white metals such as palladium or silver. It's usually plated with rhodium for a harder, brighter surface.

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