Gold : it's all in the recipe

Gold is a precious metal by excellence, its yellow color and light that emanates made ​​it the material of choice for jewelers. However, there are several types of gold, both in terms of color, as well as carats. Collector Square gives you some keywords to better understand and appreciate it.

1. What is the gold the most used by jewelers?

  • A. 24 carats
  • B. 18 carats
  • C. 14 carats
  • D. 9 carats

2. Why aren’t gold jewelry not composed solely of pure gold?

  • A. the metal is too soft in its purest form to make jewelry
  • B. the metal is too expensive
  • C. the metal is too rare

3. How can several colors of gold exist?

  • A. For surface treatments and veneers
  • B. From the provenance of gold, according to the mines it is extracted from
  • C. By variations in alloys

4. What is green gold?

  • A. A green-colored gold
  • B. A gold extracted from the mines in respect to the environment
  • C. The nickname of luxury olive oils

Answers: 1-B ; 2-A ; 3-A and C ; 4-B.

A precious percentage

There are four "qualities" of gold: 9 carat, 14 carat, 18 carat and 24 carat gold. Only gold ingot is 24k gold, gold is 100% pure. Too soft to be worked, jewelers prefer 24K gold, 18K gold, composed of 75% pure gold, 12.5% silver and 12.5% copper. Hence, this gold is then yellow.

Variations around color

To give it a pink color, we increase the amount of copper at the expense of silver. To obtain red gold, we even remove silver. For white or gray gold, two synonymous terms, copper is replaced by palladium. The 18K is used by the most renowned jewelers, this is the most "noble". Many jewelers use 14 carat gold (58% pure gold) even 9 carat gold (37.5 % pure gold) to manufacture their collections. When buying a jewel called "golden" do not hesitate to ask about the carats of gold.

Gold, the innovative material

In recent years, jewelers have invested in research and development to create new colors of gold, black, brown, blue... While some have achieved convincing results, Hublot watches for example, it is still often applicable to surface treatments compared to PVD veneers. The gold is then covered with a thin film that gives it its color.

Ethical issues

Aware of the controversy surrounding the extraction of gold, the working conditions of minors and the protection of the environment, jewelers, notably Chopard, have mobilized and are thus proposing a green gold, this means they are extracted under conditions that respect people and the environment.