What are the technical terms for precious metals?

Investment Gold: EU Directive: “Gold in the form of bars or ingots of a weight accepted by the gold markets and a fineness of at least 995 thousandths […] or gold coins with a fineness of at least 900 thousandths.” For gold coins, it is also essential that they were minted after the year 1800, are or were legal tender in their country of origin, and are sold at a price that does not exceed the market value of their gold content by 80%. 

Bars: Bars are molten metal cast into a standardized shape to make them easier to transport and process. 

: A blister pack is a type of transparent packaging used primarily for ingots of all kinds. The ingot is usually positioned in the center of the blister card, which both protects it and presents it attractively. The packaging allows the ingot to be viewed from both sides. 

Fineness: This expresses the percentage of a precious metal in a coin or bar. Fineness is stated in parts per thousand. 

Electroplating: Electroplating is a surface finishing technique. Two purposes: functional plating (e.g., protection against corrosion/wear) and decorative plating (chrome plating). Counterfeiters use this technique to make tungsten cores appear genuine. 

Gold Standard: The gold standard refers to a monetary system commonly used in the past, in which gold was the primary component of currency. 

Karat: Karat is used to indicate the purity (fineness) of gold. Example: Gold 585 refers to an alloy with a gold content of 583 1/3, which corresponds to 14 karats; 999 fine gold refers to gold with a purity of 999 parts per 1,000, which corresponds to 24 karats. 

Full-value coin: This term refers to coins whose face value is (nearly) fully backed by the metal from which they are made. The opposite of this is a token. 

Alloy: Alloys are mixtures of usually two or more metals. Well-known alloys in the precious metals sector include, for example, rose gold (gold-copper), white gold (gold-palladium-silver), and yellow gold (fine gold-silver-copper).

Hallmarking/Hallmark/Stamping: The stamping of precious metals is referred to as hallmarking. The fineness of the material is often stamped onto the coin. 

Refinery: A refinery (also known as an assaying plant) is a company that separates various metals bound together and, so to speak, recycles metals. The end product is a precious metal that is as pure as possible, which can then be resold. 

Legal tender coin: This term refers to coins whose face value is not backed by their metal value. Ounce/Troy Ounce: An ounce is a unit of measurement for the mass of a wide variety of objects (e.g., common ounce, fluid ounce). In the context of precious metals, the troy ounce is used, which is approximately 31.10 grams. Test your precious metals safely with Goldanalytix testing devices.