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What is White Gold and Where Does It Come From? |
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Gold Alloys
Gold itself is a yellow metallic element but, in its pure form, it is too soft to be
used for general jewellery purposes, although there are some cultures which do wear
pure gold jewellery, it would need to be heavily made and carefully used. The yellow
colour of gold is caused by gold absorbing violet and blue light, but reflecting
yellow and red light.
It is usual for gold to be mixed with other metals to produce an alloy, which is
simply a mixture of two or more metals. Throughout history, most people have
preferred the colour of gold jewellery to remain close to that of pure gold itself,
and so most jewellery has historically been made using yellow gold alloys. Other
metals mixed with gold to produce alloys include copper and silver, which are the
common components of most yellow gold alloys, and nickel, zinc, and palladium to
produce white alloys.
White Gold Alloys with Nickel
White gold alloys became fashionable in the 1920's, mainly as a substitute for
platinum, which had itself recently become fashionable. Platinum is quite expensive,
needs greater temperatures than gold, and is generally considered harder to work with
than gold, although it is ideal for use in diamond settings. At least three patents
were issued for different "recipes" of white gold alloys during the 1920's, using
different components to produce the whitening or "bleaching" effect. Simply mixing a
white and a yellow metal together does not just produce a pale yellow colour,
alloying produces a difference in the atomic structure which alters the reflectivity
of light of different wavelengths.
The commonest metal which causes a significant bleaching effect in gold is nickel,
which has the great advantage of being inexpensive, and also providing, in 18 carat
alloys, a good colour match for platinum, however its colour matching in 14 and 9
carat alloys is poor. It also has the serious defect that it commonly causes
dermatitis, through allergic reactions when worn in contact with the skin. It is also
considered to be slightly carcinogenic. E.C. Regulations covering the use of nickel
in jewellery are being implemented, and soon all or most new jewellery sold in the
Community will have to be nickel-free, or at least "nickel-safe". Most American and
Italian white gold alloys use nickel.
A typical nickel containing white gold alloy might be, in parts per thousand:
Gold 750, Copper 55, Nickel 145, Zinc 50
White Gold Alloys with Palladium
The other metal which is ideal as a constituent of white gold alloys is palladium,
which is a close relative of platinum. Its main disadvantage is that it is quite
expensive, indeed at the time of writing this, the market price of palladium was
higher than that of gold, due to Russian economic and production problems. Its second
disadvantage is the high melting point, although jewellery manufacturing and repair
equipment has improved, so that most workshops can now cope. A hidden factor in the
high cost of alloy components is that there are large proportions of scrap produced
during jewellery manufacture. Because this involves expensive precious metal alloys,
recycling and reclamation of the precious metals is very important. When scrap
contains high levels of expensive metals like palladium, there are extra costs
involved in recovering it, which have to be added back to the production costs.
Other possible whiteners include silver, platinum, chromium, cobalt, tin, zinc, and
indium. Silver would be an ideal constituent, with excellent working properties, but
unfortunately it does not have a very great bleaching effect. Copper does not tend to
whiten, but is used to improve the ductility of most white gold alloys.
A typical palladium containing white gold alloy might be, in parts per thousand:
Gold 750, Silver 40, Copper 40, Palladium 170
We Use Nickel-Free Palladium White Gold
We use 18 carat white gold alloys for most of our diamond ring settings. Our policy
is to use only white gold alloys containing palladium, and which are
nickel-free.
Black Humour or a White Lie?
I normally answer questions seriously, but do have a rather keenly developed sense of
humour. Once a nice couple asked me the usual questions about white gold, and I
started with the slightly facetious answer that most gold was yellow, and white gold
was very rare. I then explained that it was only found in small quantities in certain
mines. By this stage, both of them had nodded and followed the plot, so I was
encouraged to continue. Most gold comes from South Africa, and most of the mine
labour is performed by low paid black workers. The white mine workers are usually
highly paid managers, supervisors, and technicians. The problem with white gold is
that it could become stained by perspiration from the black miners, and this ruined
its marketability. Therefore white gold seams could only be worked by the highly paid
white workers. I managed to continue inventing this mythical scenario expecting them
to realise soon that I was leg-pulling, but they continued to nod and make
understanding sounds.
Coming to the end of about five minutes of sheer invention, they then said "Is that
right", and I laughed and said "No, not a word of it, but you seemed to be enjoying
the story, so I carried on!" I'm glad to recall that they joined in the amusement, and I
then gave them a more accurate account. I find it intriguing to wonder what would
have happened had I left them believing the original story.
You may wish to visit some of our other pages:-
Allergies to Gold Jewellery
Gold Alloys by Weight & Volume
Hardness & Durability of Gold Alloys
White Gold Turns Yellow
What is Rose / Red / Pink Gold?
What is Green Gold?
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