WHY MY GOLD HAS 585 STAMP? HOW MANY KARATS IS IT?
In the Russian Federation the quality (fineness) of gold is measured by the 
percentage of gold in the jewelry piece. The stamp on your item can say something like 375, 500, 583, 750, and 958. These letters and numbers indicate an item's purity. They stand for different varieties of gold, and some varieties are worth more than others. The first two digits indicate the percentage content of precious metal in 1000 parts of alloy. For example in 585 - pure gold content is 58%. Common components of gold alloy include copper, nickel, and zinc, among others. These additional metals impart greater strength and durability to fine gold jewelry.
Mixing gold with other metals can change it's color too. Pure gold is yellow. Yet, gold jewelry can be white or silver, red or rose, and green or lime instead. Russian gold usually has more of a pink tint.
Pure gold is 24 karats and .999 fine. (It's never 100% pure.)
In the USA gold is measured in Carats or Karats. Imagine your jewelry separated into 24 parts. How many of these parts are pure gold - that's how many carats your jewelry has. So if your ring is said to be 14K - it means 14 parts are gold and 10 parts are not (which is about 58%gold).
| Fineness | Caratage/Karatage | Gold Percentage |
| 333 | 8 K Gold | 33.3% |
| 375 | 9 K Gold | 37.5% |
| 416 or 417 | 10 K Gold | 41.6%+ |
| 583 or 585 | 14 K Gold | 58.3% + |
| 750 | 18 K Gold | 75.0% |
| 916 or 917 | 22 K Gold | 91.6% + |
| 999 | 24 K Gold | 99.9% |
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