Nersel’s Designer Trendy Gold Jewelry

“Pink Gold, purple gold, blue gold, green gold, and black gold!
Mostly we think of shining yellow gold when we think of gold. This is its natural colour when 24 karat gold jewelry is created. Gold jewelry does in fact come in many colors, variants on the classic pure gold.  

The most popular and most often referred to is white gold jewelry, which was first brought into vogue in the 1920’s. White gold is made by adding “white” metals to gold, such as platinum, silver, zinc and nickel. White gold jewelry made with platinum can be more expensive then pure gold jewelry because platinum is currently worth more than gold.

The second most common variation on 24 karat gold jewelry is rose gold or red gold jewelry. Rose gold is created in varying hues by adding copper to gold.

In recent years, thanks to new technologies, new gold jewelry colours have evolved. Gold jewelry can now be found in colours such as black gold, green gold, purple gold and blue gold.

These new colours are often used in combinations to highlight each other or in small amounts to add contrast to yellow, white or rose gold.

Examples of designer gold jewelry using different coloured golds can be seen in the Les Symboliques collection by Boucheron.

Jarretiere has also been innovative with their creation and use of coloured golds in their jewelry collections.

How are colored golds made?

According to KaiJewels.com, making colored golds is possible by formation of special gold metal compounds (Intermetallic Compounds) or by forming a surface coating on gold (Patination Of Gold).

Alloying gold and aluminium makes purple gold. Purple gold is often used to highlight white gold jewelry. View examples of purple gold jewelry.
Blue Gold is made by the interaction of gold and indium with manufacturing techniques being similar to those used to make purple gold.

Black Gold can be created using quite a few techniques using black rhodium or ruthenium, amorphouse carbon, and oxidation of carat gold containing chromium or cobalt. Read more about the techniques used to create colored gold jewelry.

According to 24carat.co.uk, Green gold is made by combining gold and silver with no copper in the alloy mix producing a greenish yellow. Most green golds are very soft and generally used only as small amounts to highlight other gold colors.

Colored golds add another avenue of creative possibilities for gold jewelry designers. The gold jewelry being designed with colored golds incorporated is a testimony to this and colored golds are becoming more popular in their use in modern.”

Resource: http://goldprice.org/gold-jewelry/2006/01/purple-gold-blue-gold-green-gold-black.html

Karat is a measure of the purity of gold and platinum alloys. In the US and Canada, the spelling karat is usually used for the measure of purity, while carat refers to the measure of mass and mostly used for precious stones such as diamonds. As a measure of purity, one carat is one twenty-fourth purity by weight. So the karat system is used to reveal the amount of pure gold found in an item. A 14K jewelry is only made up of about 60% pure gold , 12K ring of 50% gold, 18k ring is made up of 75% and 24k gold jewelry is the most pure form at 99% or 100% gold. In America a lot of consumers buy 9K or 14K gold jewelry but what they are actually buying is 60% or less gold, the rest is other non precious metals. 24K gold jewelry is not only the most precious and the most expensive but it maybe hard to wear because it is soft. However adding 1% hard metal can make the difference in the softness and also the color. Some of the Chinese and Indian 24K gold is dark yellow or orange. However Turkish 24K gold is more yellowish and more shiny because the 1% metal included. The 24K goldsmiths are artisans who specialize in producing only 24K gold jewelry. Western consumers just started the discover the beauty of pure 24K gold jewelry. 24 Karat gold is often refered to as ‘fine gold’. 24 Karat gold is from 99.0% to 99.9% pure gold depending on a country’s laws. In China, 24 Karat gold is called “Chuk Kam”, meaning ‘pure gold’ and has a gold minimum of 99.0%. According to the World Gold Council, in China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, 24 carat(Karat) gold is the typical caratage (fineness).” There is very little 24 karat gold jewellery sold in other parts of the world. 24 Karat gold is soft and not very durable for jewelry. Mixing other metals to create a gold alloy gives strength and hardness to gold jewelry. This means gold jewelry wears better, is less scratch resistant and will not be damaged or distort as readily as 24 Karat gold jewelry.The purer the gold content in a piece of jewelry, the more valuable it is. Gold is mixed with alloys, metals added to strengthen the gold to create more durable jewelry, particularly in gold rings and gold bracelets. Mixing other metals with gold also gives a variety of coloured golds used in gold jewelry creation.

24 Karat gold and 22 Karat gold jewelry created as special designer pieces that are worn for special occassions and bought as investment pieces due to their high gold content and designer’s artistic prestige. Such pieces rarely lose their value and increase in value as a designer becomes more famous or passes away.The different grades of karats are:

Ruby is a beautiful red gem and the birthstone of July. Rubies have been used in jewelry since the ancient times. Ruby’s red color is caused by chromium. Natural rubies are rare and thus expensives. A lot of the rubies used in jewelry today are lab created. Rubies are mined in Africa, Asia, Australia and Greenland. Burma, Sri Lanka , Kenya , Madagascar and Thailand are famous with their high quality natural rubies. The most important characteristic about that valuable stone is its color. The name “Ruby” was derived from the Latin word “rubens” meaning “red”.Ruby gemstones are valued according to several characteristics including size, color, clarity and cut. All natural rubies, just like natural emeralds, have imperfections in them, including color impurities and inclusions of needles known as “silk”. Artificial rubies may have no imperfections. Fine quality of natural rubies are rare.

Rubies come in differenct shades of red, red purple and red orange. A medium toned red or red with slight blue is most desired. Clarity of the stone and inclusions are also taken into account to determined the stones value.

Red symbolizes love, warmth and a strong sense of life.  For thousands of years Ruby has been considered on of the most valuable gemstones of our Earth. It has a wonderful red color,, excellent hardness and brilliance.  The red of Rubies is in a class all by otself: warm and fiery. Two magical elements are associated with the symbolism of this color are fire and blood, implying life. Red is a hot, passionate and powerful color. Ruby is the perfect symbol of powerful feelings. A ring set with a precious Ruby does not really symbolise a calm and moderate sympathy, but rather passionate and unbridled love which two people feel for each other. Rubies also symbolize courage and bravery in some cultures and thus have been used to decorate the swords, crowns, and thrones of Ottomon Sultans.

The world’s biggest ruby is the Rajaratna Ruby, which weighs 2,475 carats (495 g = 1 pound 1.46 ounces). Because the Rajaranta shows asterism, it is also the largest star ruby. The world’s biggest double-star ruby (with a 12-pointed star) is the Neelanjali Ruby, weighing 1,370 carats (274 g). Both rubies currently belong to G. Vidyaraj from Bangalore, India. A 8.62 ct. Burmese ruby sold for $425,000 per carat (2,125,000 $/g) or $3,800,000 on 15 February 2006 at Christie’s in Switzerland.

Resources: wikipedia.org, gemstone.org, jewelry.com