| Sometimes shopping for gold can be confusing. Should | | | | aluminum. High karat gold alloys are much more |
| you get 14K or 18K? What does the karat of gold | | | | resistant to corrosion and tarnish than sterling silver, but |
| mean anyway? What is the difference between | | | | should still be maintained and cleaned professionally |
| white, rose, and yellow colored gold? Let us explore | | | | and on a regular basis depending on how often your |
| the advantages and disadvantages of different colors | | | | jewelry is being worn and used. |
| and karats of gold jewelry. | | | | Rose gold gets its hue from a higher percentage of |
| We'll start at the beginning. Gold has been used as | | | | copper used in the jewelry, usually taking place of |
| early as 2600 B.C. and shown in Egyptian hieroglyphs | | | | silver. It matches some skin tones wonderfully and |
| of the same time period. People have spent their entire | | | | contrasts all diamonds. It is also regaining popularity |
| lives traveling to the ends of the Earth in search for | | | | again in our time. |
| this precious metal. | | | | White gold can most often be broken into two |
| The system of karats simply shows the purity of gold. | | | | categories. There are those that use nickel and those |
| 24 karat gold is considered 99.9% pure and any other | | | | that use palladium to "bleach" out the yellow. |
| karat of gold can be divided by 24 to give its | | | | While nickel has the strongest bleaching abilities, a rare |
| percentage purity. For example, 14 karat gold is 58.3% | | | | percentage of the population are allergic to nickel. |
| pure. (14 / 24 = .583) Another common example is 18 | | | | While Europe has developed regulatory laws stating |
| karat gold which is 75% pure. (18 / 24 = .75) The purity | | | | how much nickel may be used in jewelry, the US has |
| of any gold can be found by plugging into this simple | | | | not and it is important that you consider using a |
| math formula. Hence, the higher the karat of gold, the | | | | jeweler that is reputable and not always just the |
| more pure it is, and the more expensive it is. | | | | cheapest. |
| This begs the question of what else makes up the | | | | When palladium is used as the bleaching agent, there |
| other percentage of jewelry when 10K, 14K and 18K | | | | are no allergic issues but the price goes up as it is a |
| gold is most widely used in the industry? | | | | more precious metal falling into the platinum group. |
| Gold alloys are used and created to alter the | | | | This informative article is meant to educate those |
| malleability, color, melting point, and most importantly, | | | | shopping for a wedding band. Often times the diamond |
| hardness. 24K pure gold is very soft and when used in | | | | education and "The 4 C's" is pushed so much that we |
| jewelry is damaged very easily. The other percentage | | | | forget the importance of the rest of the ring holding |
| of jewelry in lower karat gold is most often made of | | | | the diamond. With this knowledge one can hope to find |
| copper, giving it a red hue. Silver and palladium is also | | | | a wedding ring that will truly make them happy forever. |
| used, along with nickel and in rare cases iron and | | | | |