Question about 14kt vs 18kt gold and GEOGRAPHY

[Roo]

I am a collector of vintage/antique jewerly and am hoping someone who works in the jewelry field (or is knowledgable about this) will know the answer to this question:

It has always been my impression that most of the jewelry from western Europe, particularly the antique peices are made from 18kt gold.

My question is this: has 14kt gold ever been used there too? I am looking at a vintage peice right now that is being sold with a provenance of Italy, circa 1950ish and the gold is 14kt and not 18kt.

I know in some countries it is required by law that they use 18kt or better?

Anyone know if this is true for Italy in the 50's? I am just curious if this item is being sold as from Italy when it's really not...

Thanks

 

[bgdiamond]

I know that some vintage jewelry goes as low as 10kt gold, but I have also seen lots of 22kt gold from the early 1920's era.

In eastern asia, you will see a lot of 10 and 12kt gold.

India tends to have 14kt or higher.

You need to be careful with gold, because even though it may be stamped 14kt, it may be only 10kt. test it if your unsure.

 

[Robin.H]

Sorry I don't know about the geography, but for somefun facts, the higher Kt quality is why Pirates (in movies) always bite the coins in their Booty. if they could sink their teeth into it, it was a higher Kt.
sorry all I had to offer was trivia.

 

[adoptastray]

Yes, there are plenty of vintage european pieces marked 585 for 14k.