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The Many Colors of Gold |
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To most of us, the word "gold" conjures up a metallic yellow-brown color. Few of us think of gold in any other color, but that is far from true. The fact that gold is available in so many colors is just one of its many attributes and a reason why it is used so often in jewelry making.
Unlike pure gold, known as 24 karat, most gold jewelry is made from an alloy or mixture of gold and other metals. . . . |
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18 karat gold is an alloy of 75% pure gold with the remaining 25% a mixture of other metals. The other metals are what give gold its strength and color.
The jewelry industry, always looking for a new and interesting slant, has developed gold in an unusual combination with other metals, in different proportions by which they have created several interesting and unusual colors. Some of these oddities aren't very popular, but some have, over time, become standards. Maintaining the formulas for these odd ball colors allow the jeweler to exactly match or recreate a piece of jewelry. |
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The differences in colors can best be seen when different colors are combined within the same piece of jewelry. One such popular example of this is found in "Black Hills Gold" where two or three colors of gold are included in a piece of jewelry.
What follows is a list of some of these unusual gold colors, preceded by the scientific symbol for a variety of metals that are used to make the combinations and create the colors. |
| Gold Formulations
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- Au = Gold
- Ag = Silver
- Al = Aluminum
- Cu = Copper
- Cd = Cadmium
- Fe = Iron
- Ni = Nickel
- Pd = Palladium
- Pt = Platinum
- Zn = Zinc
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Yellow Gold, 22 Karat
Au 91.67% Ag 5% Cu 2% Zn 1.33%
Yellow Gold, 18 Karat
Au 75% Ag 10% Cu 10% Zn 5%
Red Gold, 18 Karat
Au 75% Cu 25%
Rose Gold, 18 Karat
Au 75% Cu 22.25% Ag 2.75%
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Pink Gold, 18 Karat
Au 75% Cu 20% Ag 5%
Green Gold, 18 Karat
Au 75% Ag 20% Cu 5%
Light Green, 18 Karat
Au 75% Cu 23% Cd 2%
Deep Green Gold, 18 Karat
Au 75% Cu 6% Ag 15% Cd 4%
Blue Gold, 18 Karat
Au 75% Fe 25%
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Purple Gold, 18 Karat
Au 80% Al 20%
White Gold, 14 Karat
Au 58.33% Ni 15% Cu 10% Zn 16.67%
White Gold, 14 Karat
Au 58.33% Pd 14% Zn 11% Ag 16.67%
White Gold, 18 Karat
Au 75% Pt or Pd 25%
White Gold, 18 Karat (No. 2)
Au 75% Pd 10% Ni 10% Zn 5%
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Gray White Gold, 18 Karat
Au 75% Cu 8% Fe 17%
Yellow Gold, 14 Karat
Au 58.33% Cu 31.2% Ag 4% Zn 6.47%
Yellow Gold, 12 Karat
Au 50% Cu 34% Ag 16%
Green Gold, 12 Karat
Au 50% Cu 6% Ag 44%
Dark Green Gold, 12 Karat
Au 50% Cu 10% Ag 40%
Red Gold, 12 Karat
Au 50% Cu 50%
There are other formulas which produce other hue changes in gold and there also is another process for coloring gold. It creates the color changes in color by plating gold onto the surface of other base metals. The plating forms a thin coat of gold, with the color determined by the solution and type of electrode used in the process.
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