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Showing posts with label White Gold. Show all posts
Showing posts with label White Gold. Show all posts
Sunday, November 20, 2011

White Gold

All our white gold jewellery is compliant with Nickel free directives, with less than 0.05% nickel content, with release rates less than 0.5 micrograms per square centimetre per week, as determed in EN1811:1998 and EN1810:1998. We use an expensive silver-rich alloy to produce the white colour which is best described as a warm white. This whiteness is then enhanced with a rhodium plating and whilst this will fade in time, it can easily be reapplied to restore the original finish by a working jeweller.

Gold is yellow, copper is reddish, and all other metals are a silvery grey in colour. 
Refining an Ingot of GoldThere are however gold alloys, that is mixes of differing metals, that appear grey/white.
White gold (alloy) became popular around 1920 as a substitute for platinum, as platinum was quite expensive. Simply mixing a white and yellow metal together will not produce a colour in the same way that mixing paint does. The most common metal used to 'bleach' gold is nickel which is both inexpensive and provides a good platinum look-alike in 18ct alloys.
It has however been linked to dermatitis through allergic reactions with the skin. It has also been suggested that it may be slightly carcinogenic. A recent E.U directive has indicated that soon all jewellry will have to be nickel safe with only a few ppm being allowable.


A typical white gold alloy might be

Carat and ColourPure 24ctSilverCopperZincNickelPalladium
18ct White gold75%NIL5.5%5%14.5%NIL
Nickel Free      
18ct White gold75%4%NILNILNIL17%