A gold alloy is any alloy that contains gold. Since gold in its purest form is much too soft despite its other great qualities, it’s often paired with other metals like silver, copper, nickel and zinc to give it more hardness for a variety of different uses.
In fact, the majority of the gold you come across is an alloy of one kind or another. There are hundreds of possible gold alloys and mixtures. Sometimes gold alloy is white in color, other times it has a reddish or greenish hue depending on the type of metals and ratios used.
Have you ever heard someone tell you that they want a piece of gold jewelry, but they don’t want it to be yellow? Meet white gold.
White gold is a term that’s used rather loosely in the industry that describes any gold alloy with a white hue. White gold gives you that beautiful, warm white appearance that people have been raving over since the 1920′s.
In those days, the prices of platinum were sky high so they came up with white gold as an alternative. Since then, white gold has gained enormous popularity in the jewelry business.
Before we dive into white gold, it’s important to note that pure gold is yellow, while pure copper is reddish and other metals like nickel, manganese or palladium are silver in color.
Hence, a gold-copper alloy will be slightly reddish while a gold-nickel alloy will be silvery (aka white). This is one way you can tell what kind of alloy you are dealing with just by looking at it, unless it’s plated.
The highest quality and safest type of white gold uses a silver-rich alloy to produce the silvery color and enhanced with rhodium plating, giving it that warm white hue that gets so many oohs and awws. The plating will wear over time, but it can easily be restored by a working jeweler.
Common Recipe #1: 75% Gold + 25% Platinum or Palladium
A less expensive and more common method for bleaching gold is adding nickel, which provides a nice platinum look. There is considerable evidence that nickel causes allergic reactions to some people. Nickel can cause dermatitis through allergic reactions and can be slightly carcinogenic. It’s better to go after white gold that has the very least amount of nickel possible to avoid skin rashes.
Common Recipe #2: 75% Gold + 10% Palladium + 10% Nickel + 5% Zinc
Remember when buying white gold that the maximum possible carats is up to 21 carats. White gold can not be more than 21 carat or you’ll know your seller is scamming you!
Toronto Gold is a gold buyer in Toronto, Ontario. At our store, customer satisfaction is guaranteed. The above image is not our own.