Gold and platinum are two of the most commonly used metals for jewellery. There are different variations of gold, with the more popular ones being yellow gold, white gold and rose gold.
Purity of Gold
Pure gold is not suitable to be used for ring settings because as a pure metal, it is too soft for jewellery purposes. Hence, it needs to be combined with other metals to form alloys, so as to increase its strength and durability. The purity of gold or how much gold is in the piece of jewellery, uses the unit ‘karat’ or ‘KT’. One unit of karat is equivalent to 1/24 part, and 24 karat represents pure gold.
The table below shows the percentage of gold content in different Karat:
Category
Amount of Gold
24K
99.99%
22K
91.6%
18K
75%
14K
58.5%
10K
41.7%
6K
25%
18KT gold is the recommended karat for ring setting due to its durability for daily wear and its visual appeal. As earlier mentioned, pure gold, 24KT and/or 22KT are unsuitable due to its softness and tendency to get scratched easily. On the other hand, lower gold karat, even though it is more durable, the visual appearance is not attractive enough for jewellery.
Besides, 18KT gold is less costly compared to platinum and fuss-free as most jewellery craftsmen are able to do polishing and re-plating.
Generally there are 3 types of gold alloy used in jewellery:
18KT White Gold
25% mixture Copper, Nickel, Zinc and/or Palladium
18KT Yellow Gold
25% mixture Copper, Silver, Zinc and/or Cobalt
18KT Rose Gold
25% mixture Silver, copper
White Gold
White gold is an alloy of yellow gold with at least one other white metal such as Nickel or Palladium. For all of our white gold, Palladium is used instead of Nickel because some people are allergic to Nickel, which may result in irritation. Moreover, Palladium belongs to the Platinum group of metals, which appear whiter than Nickel alloy.
Typically, white gold is plated with rhodium which gives the jewellery a shinier and whiter appearance. Rhodium however, tends to wear off over time, due to abrasion and requires rhodium re-plating and polishing to enhance its appearance.
Rose Gold
Rose gold is achieved when yellow gold is alloyed with copper. Since Copper has a reddish-brown color, a rosy red appearance is achieved by mixing it with yellow gold. The varying amount of copper used affects the tone of the rose gold. The higher the content of copper used the more red the appearance becomes. Pink gold uses the least copper.
Platinum
Platinum is one of the rarest metals on earth and is white in colour by nature. Unlike white gold, rhodium plating is not required. It is renowned for its superior strength and durability and can be used in almost its pure form (90% – 95%). It is also hypoallergic and hence, suitable for those with sensitive skin.
