Green Gold

Green gold is probably less well known that the white or rose variety, perhaps because its colouring is rather subtle. Don't expect to see a bright green metal glowing like an emerald, you'll probably be disappointed. Instead green gold is best described as yellow gold with a slight greenish tinge - those who, like me, have poor colour vision might not even be able to tell the difference between the two.

Green gold is an unusual metal that creates distinctive pieces of jewelry. It's most likely to be seen in earrings, necklaces and wedding rings.

What is Green Gold?

So how is green gold formed? You might expect it to be made by mixing gold with copper - however that process actually produces rose gold.

Green gold is formed as an alloy of ordinary yellow gold with silver. Since it's an alloy you can't get pure 24 karat green gold. A mixture of 75% gold to 25% silver (18 karat green gold) is traditional however cadmium is sometimes also added in small quantities. Green coloured gold can also be produced by external plating of normal gold.

It's important not to confuse green gold with green goldstone. The latter is a form of coloured glass with metallic specks.

Lemon quartz stone is also sometimes called "green gold quartz" because of its colour.

Electrum

Alloyed gold and silver can also be found naturally. This mineral variety is called electrum and was frequently used for coinage in earlier societies. The natural form of the alloy is rarely pure, with the different ratios silver to gold and the presence of other metals resulting in a wide variety of hues.