*Updated Sept 19, 2019
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If you are in a hurry
Watch the video below to quickly understand what 999.9 means on gold.
(I made this video to function as a short summary of the article below).
Share and ‘like’ if the video was useful for you 🙂
999.9 gold bar
Companies carrying high-purity gold products have “999.9” or “999” stamped on their bars, coins or jewellery.
So, what does “999.9” mean on gold?
Also, occasionally you will see “24 Karat” or “24 K” stamped somewhere as well. More often you will find “24 Karat” mentioned in a product description though.
Both, “999.9” and “24 Karat” mean the same thing. It means that gold is virtually at its maximum fineness or very close to being 100% pure gold.
“999.9” and “24 Karat” are examples of two different systems used to show the fineness of gold (aka gold purity).
Although in the past there were more than several methods to indicate the purity of gold, these two systems are still used today.
Intuitively, you probably have a general idea what “999.9” means, so let’s start with this first.
The two systems are analogous. So, once you fully understand the meaning of “999.9”, you will better understand what “24 Karat” means (which I will discuss in the next post).
Meaning of “999.9” on gold
“999.9” or “999” are examples of purity representation of gold using millesimal fineness system.
In this system, fineness or gold purity is expressed in parts per 1000. In other words, it tells how many parts, out of 1000, are pure gold (in a given piece of gold).
To make it clear, picture a piece of gold that is broken down to 1000 parts of equal mass. Then, if all parts of pure gold (containing only 100% pure gold) are counted, you will get a purity in millesimal fineness.
For instance, a gold bar with purity of “999.9” would have 999.9 parts that are pure gold. The remaining 0.1 parts would be some other metal. It can be copper, silver, nickel, zinc or a combination of these. Because other metals make a given piece of gold less pure, sometimes they are called impurities.
Mathematically speaking, there is no such thing as 100% pure gold. But the purity can be pushed very close to 100%.
The higher the purity of gold, the closer the millesimal fineness gets to 1000. The vise versa is also true. The lower the purity of gold, the further the number gets from 1000 (and closer to 0).
Of course, in real life nobody breaks gold in 1000 parts. Instead, to get gold purity in millesimal fineness, the percent of gold (in decimal form) found in a given piece of gold is simply multiplied by 1000.
So, let’s say, you got lucky and found a gold nugget that is 0.78 gold.
To express the purity of this nugget in millesimal fineness, you multiply 0.78 by 1000 which equals 780. So, the purity of your gold nugget is 780.
**Keep in mind that once gold leaves refinery its purity has already been determined. For your info, gold refineries process raw gold taken out of the ground into pure gold.
To conclude
I find it interesting that raw gold just taken out of the ground typically has the purity of at least 750 if expressed in millesimal fineness.
Does above explanation clear mud for you when looking at the “999.9” stamp? If not, let me know what’s not clear!
And until next time when I’m going to talk about the meaning of “24 Karat”.
I want to start exchanging paper money for 999.9 gold money
Main references:
www.wikipedia.com
www.portlandgoldbuyers.com
www.snapdeal.com (photo)
Sir/maam the gold I have seen FINE A.U GOLD 999.9 , WHAT KIND OF GOLD IS THAT?
Hello,
“Au” may simply stand for a chemical symbol of gold.
It also may stand for a company name or refinery.
But I’m inclined to think that it stands for a chemical symbol of gold.
Thanks for dropping by, and let me know if you have any more questions!
maam good day, how could you compare the value of 999.9 chinese gold to other countries 999.9 refineness particularly saudi or japan gold
Hello,
Thank you for your question.
If it says 999.9 on a bar as long as it’s not fake and coming from a reputable refinery or bank, doesn’t matter whether it’s Chinese or Japanese.
I have just bought a gold bar that says doneness 999.9 weight 1g is this a good investment and how much is it worth? Also, is there anyway, of knowing when the price of gold increases and by how much. I purchased my gold as an investment.
Hi Hayley,
I apologize for a delay in replying.
Gold is an excellent investment – keep it up!
As long as you bought the bar from a reputable dealer, 999.9 means that it’s the best possible purity.
Its worth is determined by its weight as well as when you decide to exchange it for currency (i.e. the price of gold at that time.)
Although it’s complicated to predict when the price of gold will go up next, gold price usually increases in times of economic instability such as recession.
You can see this in Figure 4 provided in this article: https://freewithgold.com/gold-to-oil-price-ratio-spikes-during-times-of-recession-usually
The gold price (# of barrels of oil you can buy with one 1 ounce of gold) spiked around 2008-2009 and 2014-2015 which were two recessions we had in the last decade.
Hello, I have a gold necklace, not to sure where it’s from, but from the clasp, I believe over seas. It has 9999 on it, along with a few marks. It weighs 42 grams, and it looks like the beads on it are painted. Is just straight numbers no decimal mean it could be pure gold? Thank you.
Hi Melissa,
If it’s a genuine gold necklace, then 9999 stands for 0.9999. (It also mean the same as 999.9 I bring up in this article).
So, the necklace is 0.9999 gold, which is highly refined gold since it means that 99.99% of the necklace is pure gold.
And only 0.01% are impurities like iron and copper.
This Royal Canadian Mint coin also has 9999 on it (no decimals) just like your necklace.
Given that your necklace is 42 grams, it is very valuable – congratulations Melissa, you are fortunate to have it in your possession!
Hi, I have an 18K gold earrings from Afghanistan but I’m surprised it doesn’t have a marking… to my knowledge I have known that all real gold jewellery has a marking. Is it possible that sometimes real gold don’t have a marking?
Thanks
Hi Maysa,
Thank you for dropping by 🙂
Yes, it’s possible.
I guess you know that the earrings are 18K from the packaging…?
Now, if you’re trying to confirm that the earring ARE 18K gold…
Take your earrings to some nearby place where Cash for Gold is offered: they would have someone on site who would be able to tell you whether your earrings 18K or something else.
Have a beautiful day 🙂
Which online site is good for purchase of 999.9 gold with best competitive price
Hi Mukesh,
Thank you for your question!
Are you looking to buy ounce-size bullion?
If so, then here are 4 reputable retailers with competitive prices:
1. APMEX
2. BGASC
3. Money Metals Exchange
4. Suisse Gold
Or are you looking to buy small-weight bars?
If so, then I recommend Karatbars because of the superior quality of bars and 4 security features on each bar. Plus, the fact that you get paid for saving in gold.
If Karatbars doesn’t suit you for some reason, some other reputable producers of small-weight bars are: UBS, Credit Suisse, PAMP Suisse, Valcambi Suisse, Argor Heraeus, Austrian Mint and Heraeus.
Read more on the above-mentioned companies in “4 reputable places to buy gold…” post.
Good luck with your purchases 😉
So is it not worth it to buy the 1 gram 999.9 valcambi bars from Apmex? Are they used mostly for larger purchases and a different source by the gram?
Hi Dan,
Why not, you can! I’d buy at least 5 grams of those 1-gram bars, so that it makes sense to pay for shipping.
They would be coming from one source I assume.
Read how to buy bars online safely:
https://freewithgold.com/guide-on-how-and-where-to-buy-24k-gold-bars-online-safely
If you want to buy gold in small weights systematically (for example, every month), look into a gold savings account here:
https://freewithgold.com/gold-savings-account-karatbars-with-this-average-people-can-own-gold-too
Stay in vibrant health 🙂
What is the difference between 999 & 999.5 & 999.9 gold bar
Hi Rajiv,
999.0 bar means that a bar is 99.90% pure gold.
999.5 means that a bar is 99.95% pure gold.
999.9 means that a bar is 99.99 pure gold.
Out of these three, a 999.9 gold bar is the most pure.
A fineness of 999.9 is also the highest purity possible — in gold bullion context.
Hi, i have a question, I actually have a gold in a small bottle and it is Australian gold… it says on the package that it is 999.9 pure gold.. the gold in the bottle are like flakes with liquid is that worth something?
Hey,
If it says ‘999.9 pure gold’ and the product is genuine then yes, it worth something. However, it depends how much the flakes weigh. Since you say that the bottle is small, then probably the flakes weigh very little.
Hmm.. flakes? Sounds like the product’s original purpose is decorative or even culinary.
Yeah, you can eat gold 😉 Look at this doughnut with gold flakes 😉
I have a bank in Mexico that has “centenarios” for sale and the price works out to $2157 per ounce. The coin says it’s only 0.9 (not 0.999). I see the current gold price is about $1838 per ounce, and I believe this is for 0.999. But there’s nowhere else to buy gold here that I can see; no private vendors, the banks have a monopoly on the market, so it may be the only option I have. I would love to hear your thoughts on this…
Hi Theresa,
0.9 gold is VERY close in purity to 0.999 gold.
I’d contact this bank and ask what’s the purity of those coins for real.
It actually may be 0.999 as it may depend on the producer’s preferences of how they desire their stamp to look like.
If the coins are indeed 0.9 in purity, and you know the coins of exceptional quality, and the bank has an established reputation for the coins, and this is your only option, I’d go ahead myself and purchase some of them 🙂
Stay happy 🙂
Hi Margarita,
People often ask about how to purchase gold for investment. However, my question is about the opposite direction. If one has accumulated some gold in the form of jewelry and bullion, what is the best process to appraise and convert them to cash without being ripped off? Thank you for your help.
Hi Steven,
I apologize for such a delay.
What I did (about 3 times; small gold bullion bars) is I went to a reputable, local gold to cash shop.
They will do an acid test to determine the purity of gold in your jewellery/bullion (in karats) and give you cash based on the current gold price per gram.
🙂