Gold: what is it really?

Last week you found out all the ins and outs about silver in our blog, and of course gold can't stay behind! Gold is also called the 'king of metals', and is much more expensive than silver. Gold has been used since well before the year zero and used to be found mainly in Asia and Africa. In the 19th century, many gold sources were found, especially in the United States and Australia. Like silver, gold was also widely used as currency and incorporated into jewelry that served as a status symbol.

Gold belongs to the precious metals and is a soft metal. To use gold, it must be purified. The purity of gold for jewelry is measured in carats: pure gold is 24 carats.

´ Pure gold is 24 karat.`

Other common carat purity grades in the Netherlands are 14 carat (58.3 percent gold), 18 carat (75 percent gold) and 22 carat (91.7 percent gold). If jewelry were to be made that consists of 100 percent 24 carat gold, it would wear out quickly or break quickly. That is why it is chosen to mix gold for jewelery with copper, nickel, palladium or silver.

In addition to gold and silver, there are also white gold and rose gold jewelry. White gold jewelry looks like silver, but it is made of gold. The white color is due to the metals added to the gold. This often involves a combination of gold with silver, palladium and/or manganese.

'By mixing gold with another material it becomes a different color.'

In the past, nickel was often used for this, but because of the allergic reactions that nickel can cause, this is hardly done anymore. Rose gold jewelry often consists of gold in combination with copper. The added material therefore provides a different type of jewelry for both white gold and rose gold jewelry.

Gold does not rust and does not discolour. This makes gold extremely suitable for making jewelry. Now that you know everything about silver and gold, we are very curious: what are you wearing? Check out this blog to find out what looks better on you. 👀