Gold Alloys

When we talk about gold we're used to thinking that "pure is better". Completely pure gold is described as 24 karat and the term has become a synonym for something reliable and desirable.

However gold in the real world is rarely pure - partly because it would be too soft to make durable jewelry. Most gold rings, necklaces etc that we buy are produced using gold alloys where other metals have been mixed with the gold. Jewelry usually varies between 9 and 18 karat with different countries having different standards as to the minimum acceptable levels.

Metals

Usually these alloys are carefully constructed to produce a result with a yellow colour as close as possible to that of pure gold. "Ordinary" gold usually contains copper and silver, possibly also with zinc at the lower karat levels.

There are also gold alloys which have been created which deliberately change the colour of the metal for effect. These alloys give interesting and unusual variations to the standard yellow gold.

Some of the most well known alternative gold colours and the metals most often used in the alloys that produce them are:

•  White Gold - Palladium or Nickel
•  Rose Gold - Copper
•  Green Gold - Silver

Note that these are only guides. All sorts of metals can be present in an alloy and can give a massive range of hues. The metallurgists who create these alloys need to consider not just the resulting colour but how the metals will blend and the durability of the final result.