The 14k gold price can vary for many reasons. Where you’re selling your gold and the type of piece you’re selling can make big differences.

To make 14k gold, impurity is added to pure gold. In fact, almost half of a 14k gold piece is alloy. Often, copper or silver are the alloys used. While this makes the gold “cheaper,” because it’s less pure, it can actually increase the value of an item, too–if you’re considering jewelery.

Because of its hardness, 14k gold can be especially difficult to design and engrave. It takes a very skilled hand and a great deal of patience to mold 14k gold into a quality piece of jewelery. The extra skill and delicate manner needed to craft this gold can result in the creation of a piece of jewelery that’s worth much more than just its calculated 14k gold price.

All gold items should have their karat stamped or engraved on them. Even so, you won’t always find this to be true. Not that it really matters–because a number stamped on any gold item is not genuine “proof” of its purity. Especially depending upon where you purchase your gold, you can find that the actual purity of the gold will not always match up with what’s stamped on it.

It’s no secret that we have to be very cautious about where we buy our gold items and, whenever possible, get our own independent evaluation of any item prior to buying it.

When checking 14k gold price, it’s also important to remember that the gold price you find on the internet may not be realistic, depending on your geographical location. More than likely, the prices you find on the internet are international prices. These values are acceptable to use as general guidelines. But for true and accurate values, be prepared to check in your local region, too.