Karat expresses how much of an alloy is pure gold, in twenty-fourths. Converting between karats is the fastest way to judge whether trading up or down makes financial sense.
24K is 99.9% gold, 22K is 91.67%, 21K is 87.5%, 18K is 75% and 14K is 58.33%. The remainder is alloy metals — usually copper and silver — which add hardness and change colour. Egypt's default jewelry standard is 21K, which is why local price talk almost always means the 21K gram.
To hold the same amount of pure gold, you need more grams of a lower karat: 10 g of 24K equals about 11.4 g of 21K or 13.3 g of 18K. This is the calculation that matters when a shop offers to exchange your 18K pieces for 21K — compare pure-gold content, not gross weight.
21K resells most easily in Egypt because demand is deepest there. 18K is common in branded and gem-set jewelry but usually attracts a slightly wider dealer spread locally. Always check the stamp (hallmark) — 875 for 21K, 750 for 18K — and remember that workmanship is not recovered at resale regardless of karat.
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