22K Gold in Sri Lanka: 916 Purity and Why It Dominates

Walk into almost any jewellery shop in Colombo, Kandy or Galle and the gold on display will overwhelmingly be one purity: 22 karat. Across Sri Lanka and the wider South Asian trade, 22K is not just a grade of gold, it is the default in which weddings are gifted, savings are stored and daily rates are quoted.

What 22K Means

On the karat scale of 24 parts, 22K gold contains 22 parts gold and 2 parts alloying metal, typically copper and silver in proportions each workshop guards as its own. Expressed as fineness, that is 916 parts per thousand, or 91.6% pure gold, which is why 22K jewellery is stamped "916". Our guide to what 916 means covers that mark in detail.

Karat	Fineness mark	Gold content
24K	999	~99.9%
22K	916	91.6%
21K	875	87.5%
18K	750	75.0%
14K	585	58.5%

Why South Asia Chose 22K

The preference is cultural and economic at once. Gold jewellery in Sri Lanka and its neighbours functions as wearable savings: it is gifted at weddings, pledged when cash is needed and eventually resold or remade. High purity keeps that stored value close to the metal price, so buyers want as much gold as a wearable piece can carry.

22K is the practical ceiling. The small alloy addition hardens the metal enough for bangles, chains and pendants that survive daily wear, while sacrificing only about 8% of the gold content of pure metal. It also retains a rich yellow colour close to that of 24K gold.

Strengths and Limitations

For its intended purpose, substantial, predominantly yellow-gold jewellery, 22K is excellent. Its limitations appear at the fine end of the craft. The metal is too soft to hold slender prongs reliably, which is why serious gem-set jewellery, including most sapphire rings, is made in 18K gold instead. Thin 22K rings worn on working hands will also slowly go out of round.

How 22K Gold Is Priced

The metal value of a 22K piece is roughly 91.6% of the pure-gold price per gram multiplied by its weight; jewellers commonly quote per gram or per 8-gram sovereign. On top of the metal come making charges, any wastage and stone value, the full build-up is explained in our guide to gold jewellery pricing, and you can test a quotation with the jewellery price calculator.

Buying 22K in Sri Lanka

Ask for the weight, the karat and the per-gram rate to be written on the invoice, and remember that a 916 stamp is a claim rather than a certification, practices around marking vary, so written disclosure and, for large purchases, independent gold testing remain the buyer's real safeguards.