Jewelry Guide to Precious Metals
Jewelry Guide to Precious Metals The word metal most likely originates from the Greek word “metallon” or the Latin word “metallum”, both meaning "mine" or "metal". The earliest known use of metals dates from 6000BC, which became much common practice with the discovery of various metals such as Gold (6000 BC), Copper (4200 BC), Silver (4000 BC) and Lead (3500 BC). Metals are often classified as Ferrous (containing iron) and Non-ferrous, Base (those that oxidize and corrode easily) and Noble, Precious and Non-precious. Precious metals such as gold, silver and platinum are widely used in jewelry making. Gold (yellow, white and rose) is the most popular and most commonly used precious metal for jewelry. Its popularity stems from its rarity and alluring luster and from the fact that gold is not susceptible to rust, corrosion and tarnish. Pure gold is very soft and inappropriate for jewelry making, so it is mixed with other metals such as silver, zinc, copper and nickel for additional durability and hardness. Gold purity is expressed in carats or karats; 24K being the purest gold (99.9% pure). Other carats include 22K (91.7% pure), 18K (75% pure), 14K (58.3% pure), 12K (50% pure) and 10K gold (41.7% pure). The most frequent choice is 18K and 14K gold. Yellow is the natural color of gold. White gold is a yellow gold alloyed with other white metals such as silver, zinc, nickel or platinum to make it white. Deemed by many as quite exotic, rose gold is reddish in color due to copper combined with gold. Jewelry can be made entirely out of gold, or in combination with diamonds, gemstones and other metals. Gold Vermeil jewelry is made of sterling silver plated with gold. Gold-filled and gold-plated jewelry is made of base metals, such as nickel or brass, coated with gold. Gold-filled jewelry is of slightly better quality in comparison to gold-plated jewelry whose gold coating tends to wear off easily. Silver jewelry making has a long tradition, as it is equally lustrous as gold but more affordable. Similarly to pure gold, pure silver, also known as fine silver, has 999 purity and is unsuitable for jewelry due to its softness and high tendency to damage. Silver is thus alloyed with other metals for enhanced durability and hardness. Although prone to tarnish, Sterling Silver is the most popular alloy made of 92.5% pure silver and 7.5% copper. A cost-efficient, but quite inferior in quality, alternative to Sterling Silver is a Silver Plate, which is a base metal coated with a silver layer. Please note that despite the name Nickel Silver is not silver, but the alloy of zinc, copper and nickel without any silver at all. Platinum is a white metal, silvery in appearance, thus resembling silver, but is more precious and more rare than both silver and gold. The heaviest, most endurable and most expensive jewelry metal, platinum was once discarded as undesirable impurity in silver. It was named “platina” or “little silver” by Spanish miners in Colombia. Platinum jewelry must have at least 95% platinum purity to be labeled as platinum, otherwise it is labeled as platinum alloy. Due to its hypoallergenic nature, platinum is most suitable for people with very sensitive skin. Platinum develops a patina over time due to everyday wear, which some consider to be the advantage that makes platinum jewelry even more compelling. This natural patina can be easily removed by gentle cleaning. Other types of metal more rarely used for jewelry making are Palladium, Rhodium, Titanium, Tungsten, Copper, Brass and Nickel.