The image that immediately springs to mind when you think of fine jewellery is bound to be something gold. And with good reason, for thousands of years cultures around the world have used the precious metal in ornaments to distinguish members of society and augment special rituals. Because the metal is relatively soft, it was easily worked into jewellery and ritual implements by even the earliest of civilisations.
Gold used in jewellery is often mixed with other metals to increase it’s hardness and durability. The mixing of metals is known as alloying. Because some gold is ‘pure’ and other gold is ‘alloyed’ it’s important to know what you’re looking at – luckily, there is a standard measure for the amount of pure gold in jewellery, the karat. The karat scale provides a clear indication of how fine the gold you purchase is: 24 karat gold is 100% pure, whereas 10 karat gold is only 41.67% gold alloyed with other metals.
The more pure gold is present in the alloy, the more prone to scratching and blemishes the piece of jewellery becomes – this is why most jewellery for everyday occasions is made of lower-karat gold. The most popular grades of gold used in European jewellery are 14 and 18 karat, whereas the jewellers of the Middle East and India tend to work with 22 karat alloys. In the UK, it is a legal requirement for all items of gold jewellery to be stamped with a hallmark showing the karatage of the gold used to create the piece – this gives consumers an instant ready-reckoner regarding the quality of the gold they’re viewing.
When gold is alloyed with other metals, it isn’t only the hardness that is affected – the colour can be altered at the same time. For example, when alloying gold and copper, the resulting metal has a more reddish glow. Alloys created with silver, nickel and palladium tend to have a more whitish bloom. More unique shades can be found – gold and aluminium yield a purplish shade; iron and gold combine to make a beautiful blue metal; and adding a little bismuth to a gold/silver alloy will give you black gold.
Shopping for gold jewellery online is fairly straightforward, but there are still things you should bear in mind when trying to decide what to buy. First, it’s important to work out what sort of gold you’re after – to get an idea what the different alloys look like in natural light, visit a jeweller near you. Have a look at different karat values, and ask the jeweller you consult for information about the composition of the alloy – this will give you a clearer idea of which alloys and karat values suit your complexion and style.
When you’ve settled on a type of gold, you’ll need to select a jeweller who crafts pieces that meet your needs - it’s highly recommended that you use jewellers with good reviews or shops that your friends or family have used with good results. Also, be sure to ask about the shops policy regarding a guarantee of quality and what their procedure is for refunds and returns.
© Jewellery Box.org.uk 2006.
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