Gold is a rare metallic element. Its chemical symbol, Au, is short the Latin word for gold, “Aurum”, which literally means “Glowing Dawn”. It has several properties that have made it very useful to mankind over the years:
- Pure gold does not rust, tarnish or corrode.
- Gold can be melted or shaped into almost any design
- Pure gold has a naturally warm yellow color and is one of only two colored metal elements, the other being copper. All other metals are silver or grey.
- Gold can be alloyed with a number of other metals to increase its strength and create different colors. For example, white gold can by produced by alloying pure gold with a family of white metals, most commonly nickel, palladium and zinc.
- Gold jewelry is available in a range of different finishes like high polished, satin-finished, hammered-finish, matte-finish, diamond-cut and filigree.
One of the great qualities of gold is its malleability. This, combined with its physical beauty and resistance to corrosion, makes gold the ultimate creative medium. Pure gold can be considered too soft and delicate for use in jewelry, so it is often combined with other metals for greater strength.
Gold jewelry is usually described in terms of “caratage” (karatage in the USA) to indicate its gold content. The term “karat” simply refers to the proportion of pure gold in a piece of jewelry and can be defined in two ways. “Fineness” which expresses the amount of gold in parts out of 1000 and as a “percentage” of pure gold.
The chart below shows some of the various karatages with their equivalent gold content in fineness and percent.
| Carats |
Fineness (of 1000) |
Gold % Content |
Comments |
| 24k |
999 |
99.9% |
Pure gold |
| 24k |
990 |
99.0% |
Minimum allowed for pure gold jewelry. Popular in China |
| 22k |
916 |
91.6% |
Popular in India |
| 21k |
875 |
87.5% |
Popular in Middle East |
| 19.2k |
800 |
80.0% |
Standard in Portugal |
| 18k |
750 |
75.0% |
Standard international caratage |
| 14k |
585 |
58.5% |
583/58.3% in USA |
White gold is an alloy of gold and at least one white metal, usually nickel, manganese or palladium. Like yellow gold, the purity of white gold is described in karats. Most white gold rings are flashed plated with a very, very thin coating of rhodium (a pure white metal) to give a more brilliant, pure white appearance. Rhodium plating will wear off over time and reveal the “real” white gold underneath. Because pure gold is very yellow, no matter how much you alloy it with other metals, it will always retain some of its yellowish brown color.
Aucoin Hart and its manufactures use very unique processes in creating white gold. These expensive manufacturing processes ensure minimal maintenance and reduce the number of times a piece of jewelry will need to be rhodium plated during the cleaning process. Ultimately, individual exposure to lotions, perfumes, hairspray and chemicals will determine the need for white gold maintenance.
Gold
Gold is a rare metallic element. Its chemical symbol, Au, is short the Latin word for gold, “Aurum”, which literally means “Glowing Dawn”. It has several properties that have made it very useful to mankind over the years:
One of the great qualities of gold is its malleability. This, combined with its physical beauty and resistance to corrosion, makes gold the ultimate creative medium. Pure gold can be considered too soft and delicate for use in jewelry, so it is often combined with other metals for greater strength.
Gold jewelry is usually described in terms of “caratage” (karatage in the USA) to indicate its gold content. The term “karat” simply refers to the proportion of pure gold in a piece of jewelry and can be defined in two ways. “Fineness” which expresses the amount of gold in parts out of 1000 and as a “percentage” of pure gold.
The chart below shows some of the various karatages with their equivalent gold content in fineness and percent.
White gold is an alloy of gold and at least one white metal, usually nickel, manganese or palladium. Like yellow gold, the purity of white gold is described in karats. Most white gold rings are flashed plated with a very, very thin coating of rhodium (a pure white metal) to give a more brilliant, pure white appearance. Rhodium plating will wear off over time and reveal the “real” white gold underneath. Because pure gold is very yellow, no matter how much you alloy it with other metals, it will always retain some of its yellowish brown color.
Aucoin Hart and its manufactures use very unique processes in creating white gold. These expensive manufacturing processes ensure minimal maintenance and reduce the number of times a piece of jewelry will need to be rhodium plated during the cleaning process. Ultimately, individual exposure to lotions, perfumes, hairspray and chemicals will determine the need for white gold maintenance.