Why aren’t high karats of gold (20k, 21k 22k) more widespread in use. I understand they are soft but not super soft. The only think I think they couldn’t be used for would be prong settings (the tiny fine wires holding stones of usually extreme value being held by a fine wire 22k gold scares me) but other than prong setting they seem perfectly fine. Is there something else I am missing about these higher karats of Gold?
Cost for one reason. Custom for another. I had a young woman, after seeing a piece of 22k I had tell me she had a chain an ex boyfriend had sent her from Vietnam that she never wore. She finally threw it out because she thought it was brass.
Nepalese use fine gold ( 24k) in most jewelry and in India it used to be too , in fact some people from time to time will pay with they’re jewelry and most people in Kathmandu know the actual value of gold and many have a scale