Gold Alloys
Posted by Tim Ferguson on
Gold Alloys
Choosing your gold alloy can be as simple as, I like this colour, sometimes its is more about the prestige or it could be price driven, some people react to certain alloys more than others. Whatever your chosen gold alloy is, here is some information that might assist you with your choice.
Pure Gold has an allure all of its own, it is hard to explain but there is a power to pure gold that other metals dont seem to have.
Throughout history wars have been waged, lives have been lost, Royalty, governments and the rich and noble and famous alike have all coveted it. Today anyone can own a piece, it is still a majestic metal and highly sort after, fortunately for us, modern mining processes have made it so much more accessible, it is no longer as rare as it once was.
Pure Gold or 24 carat, purity 999 %
22ct Gold has a 916 stamp, Purity 91.6%
18ct Gold has a 750 stamp, Purity 75.0%
14ct Gold has a 585 stamp, Purity 58.5%
10ct Gold has a 417 stamp, Purity 41.7%
9ct Gold has a 375 stamp, Purity 37.5%
Yellow Gold
Typically Yellow gold is alloyed with Copper silver and zinc depending on the desired carat will depend on the actual amount of gold in the alloy. A general rule is high quality stones should be accompanied with 18ct gold alloys. It is also best to keep the rings on your fingers in the same gold alloy to minimize wear as lower carat alloys are harder than higher carat gold.
Rose Gold
What gives rose gold that beautiful pinkish Hugh well you might be surprised that it is copper. A higher percentage of copper will provide a rose tint to yellow gold.
White Gold
White gold is very popular especially with diamonds as it will reflect more white light into the stone helping them sparkle and look larger than they might be.
There are two main types of white gold alloys Nickle based and Palladium based alloys.
Nickle is by far cheaper and most imported massed produced white gold jewellery will be nickel based. Nickel is toxic and can have a reaction with some people so make sure all your earrings are not made from nickel based white gold.
Palladium This is a rare metal on its own right and comes with a higher price tag than Nickel based white gold alloys. Our White gold jewellery is Palladium based and hence you can see the difference in price when you choose the white gold option
The amount of gold in the alloy will determine the carat and the quantity ratio of the remaining alloys will determine the metal colour. So next time you are comparing jewellery prices go a little be more prepared
Gems and Jewellery