White Gold Jewellery for Another Type of Gold

White gold, and so did white gold jewellery like white gold engagement rings, began gaining a lot of popularity at the beginning of the twentieth century as an alternative to platinum.

Platinum was steadily becoming more and more fashionable, but because of its scarceness, many people could just not afford to buy it.

Whether it is platinum or gold, these metals are considered to be noble metals because they are very resistant to corrosion and oxidation. They are also extremely scarce and expensive to buy.

The turning point came when during the Second World War many governments like the one in the United Kingdom put a ban on the use of Platinum for any non-military functions. As a result, the demand for white gold engagement rings and other type of jewellery simply went through the roof.

White gold is not something that is being found naturally like yellow gold. You actually need to mix the gold with a specific alloy.

The most common metal mixture added to gold to produce white gold are nickel, palladium and silver. Most white gold jewellery is also given an electroplated rhodium coating to intensify brightness and make it looks better.

Throughout this tricky and complex process, white gold retains many of the benefits of gold. It will not blemish and due to the metals added, it is actually stronger than its yellow counterpart.

Recently though, palladium has replaced nickel as the common alloy in white gold. It seems that actually, a small percentage of the population, approximately twelve to fifteen percent, has an allergic reaction to nickel causing skin irritation and rashes on their skin. It is now required by law that jewellery pieces containing nickel be labeled “nickel-containing” to make sure people with allergic reactions don’t buy them and go for alternatives.

The highest quality white gold that can be found is at least around eighteen karat and usually made up of gold and palladium rather than nickel or sliver, especially since people can get skin irritation when their skin is in contact with nickel.

Another kind of gold is very popular, especially in Russia is pink and red gold. This type of gold is usually mixed with copper alloy that will give the gold this pink or red colour.  The proportions to make rose gold are usually twenty five percent copper and seventy five percent gold. Those figures would change depending on what you want.