Gold jewelry tips
Gold jewelry has been manufactured by almost every known culture for thousands of years. Even the method of measuring gold jewlery purity is thousands of years old.
When purchasing gold jewelry, there are three topics that you must have some knowledge of:
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Gold jewelry alloys |
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Gold jewelry marks |
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Types of gold jewelry |
Gold jewelry alloys
Pure gold is too soft and easily damaged to be used as jewelry. Therefore, gold is often mixed with other metals, such as copper, silver, nickel and zinc, to give it strength and durability which ensures the long life of the gold jewelry.
100% pure gold is called 24karat (which should not be confused with "carats," the weight measure used for diamonds and other gems). Any karat other than 24K gold (pure gold) is called an "alloy". For instance, 14K gold is an alloy consisting of fourteen parts pure gold and ten parts other metals.
Gold jewelry will come in 18karat, 14karat, to 10karat. The lower the number the less the amount of gold in the piece. In many countries, standards prevent anything less than 10karat from being sold as gold jewelry.
Gold jewelry marks
Always look for the karat mark or "k" that appears on the back of the gold jewelry piece. The karat mark indicates the gold purity and will be one of the following:
| Gold Jewelry Purity | Karat Markings | Alloy Ratio |
| 100 - 99% | 24k - US marking 999 - European marking |
999 parts per thousand, 1 part other metal |
| 75% | 18k - US marking 750 - European marking |
750 parts per thousand, 250 parts other metal |
| 58.33% | 14k - US marking 583 - European marking |
583 parts per thousand, 417 part other metal |
In addition to the karat mark, every piece of gold jewelry should be stamped with a hallmark or trademark of its maker, and sometimes its country of origin.
Types of gold jewelry
The most popular color of gold jewelry is yellow, however it is becoming increasingly fashionable to produce gold jewelry that is rose, white, green or two tone. There is no such thing as naturally occurring rose, white, or green gold. Gold itself is only one color: yellow. All of these other "colors" of gold are produced by mixing pure 24K yellow gold with various other metals. The percentage of the other metals (copper, silver, zinc, nickel) produces the different shades of gold.
Rose Gold
Rose gold, also known as pink gold or red gold, is a mixture of pure yellow gold with a high percentage of copper. It has a very subtle and delicate color that may intensify somewhat with age due to a slight, but attractive, tarnishing of the the copper.
Rose gold is created by increasing the copper-colored alloys mixed with the gold and decreasing the silver-colored alloys. 14K rose gold contains as much pure gold as 14K yellow gold but, because of the increased copper, is slightly pinker in color.
White Gold
White gold is created by increasing the silver-colored alloys (zinc, silver, nickel) normally mixed with gold and decreasing the copper-colored alloys. 14K white gold contains as much gold as 14K yellow gold but is nearly white in color:
Green Gold
Green gold is created by mixing an alloy of pure yellow gold and pure silver. For rings, harder metals such as nickel or zinc are sometimes added to make the gold more durable.
The green color, like rose gold, is very subtle and is most noticeable when it is used in a piece of jewelry next to areas of yellow, white, and pink gold.
