What You Need Know about Gold Jewelry
September 4, 2010 by cattleto
Filed under Jewelry Tips
You have shopped for gold jewelry at some point in your life haven’t you? Depending on where you looked for your jewelry, most probably you have been met with a number of any decisions;- white, yellow, green, gold-filled, rose, vermeil, gold-plated, 18K, 14K, 10K, etc. if you are like many people, you must have wondered what the actual difference in all these varieties is.
Gold filled is the cheapest type of gold available because it isn’t a solid item. Most jewelry items have a base metal, mostly brass, which is coated with a very thin layer of actual gold. Gold filled is often used to make affordable jewelry items, although sadly it is never used in making Children and Baby jewelry as it is less expensive. Many people don’t want to spend a lot of cash for a kid’s bracelet as children can outgrow bracelets very fast and can even lose them easily if they aren’t very careful.
Needless to mention, this can be very dangerous because of the inclusion of very cheap base metal ingredients like lead which are often used in jewelry items to reduce the costs. As such, buyers should beware as even though this kind of jewelry is Ok for adults, shopping for jewelry for kids below the age of 12 should be done sparingly.
Electroplating and gold-plate are exactly as they sound. A very thin layer or plate of gold is normally electroplated on the base-metal object. Electroplating is done on the base metal very thinly hence it may wear off entirely after being worn for some period of time. This is the kind of jewelry you will put on and realize your skin turns green and you feel itchy. It therefore goes without saying that you will be wasting your money and time investing in this type of jewelry. Additionally, the base metal is normally believed to have lead on it hence may be bad for your health so to speak.
When talking of karats, pure gold will normally be 24 karats but because it is very malleable and soft, 10k, 14k, and 18k are mostly used for gold jewelry. When you hear of 10k, it means that the jewelry contains 10 parts pure gold and the remaining 14 parts of a metal alloy, normally brass. 14k means fourteen parts of pure gold i.e. 58% and the remaining ten parts of metal alloy. As is obvious then, the higher the number the more pure, and softer the gold is.
It is important to note that gold is also available in a variety of colors that you can choose from. For instance, white Gold is as a result of the addition of nickel, silver, or zinc to pure gold. Rose gold appears rent or pinkish in color and results by the addition of pure copper. Rose gold is otherwise known as vermeil. The more you add copper the redder or pinker results you end up with. Green-gold on the other hand appears yellowish in color with a slight hint of green and occurs when pure silver and pure gold are combined.
Now that you know the differences in the common terms used to refer to gold jewelry, you can be able to make an informed decision when shopping for gold jewelry, and most importantly you can be able to get a great ROI.
