The different colours of gold

Gold is a precious metal. Best known for its yellow colour, you can also find it in other colours. We find it in nature in all purities, but generally between 80 and 90% pure. Once refined to become pure, it is mixed with other precious metals like silver, palladium and platinum. The hardness, the colours and the prices then vary according to the mixed metals and the quantity of gold in each jewel.

The alloys of different golds

There are several different alloys that will give a different colour.

Yellow gold contains: 75% gold, 12.5% silver and 12.5% copper.

Red gold, on the other hand, contains no silver, but 75% gold and 25% copper. To obtain pink gold, it will be necessary to add 7% silver to this alloy.

Green gold is obtained by mixing 75% pure gold and 25% silver. This mixture, very popular with Scandinavians, will give it a beautiful green colour. An alloy of 75% gold, 23% copper and 2% cadmium results in pale green gold, while an alloy of 75% gold, 15% silver, 6% copper and 2% cadmium results in dark green gold.

White gold, also called “grey gold”, is often made up of gold (75%), silver (10%) and palladium (15%). Palladium is a precious metal that is gray in nature. It is palladium, silver, platinum (and previously nickel) that will give the white colour to your white gold jewellery. Until recently, white gold contained nickel and zinc instead of palladium, but nickel is now prohibited in jewellery because of the allergies it can cause. Namely, palladium is currently more than 20% more expensive than gold, which makes palladium-alloyed white gold much more expensive than yellow gold.

Blue gold contains 46% gold and 54% indium. You can give a blue appearance to an 18 carat jewel by giving it an electro-plating of pure gold followed by indium. By heating it, the two metals inter-diffuse, revealing the blue color.

Finally, purple gold is a clever mix of 79% gold and 21% aluminum. Quite brittle, it is often used as a decorative element in jewellery made from a more robust alloy.

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