What is red gold?
February 20th, 2011
Red and yellow gold wedding ring - beautiful combination!
Red gold is an alloy – a combination of two different metals. Red gold rings are made from copper and pure gold. Yellow gold is made from copper, silver and pure gold. White gold, the most expensive of golds, is made from pure gold and palladium – palladium is also a precious metal – so when you mix the two you end up with an expensive alloy.
The mix of copper and fine gold results in a warm red colour, and a hard alloy – perfect for a mens wedding ring. To get the gold to a rose gold colour, the mix would have fine gold, copper and a bit of pure silver – the more silver you add the closer it becomes to yellow gold. Combinations of silver, gold, platinum and palladium are all possible. Red gold is the hardest of all the gold alloys, while white gold is the softest gold ally – and white gold is actually grey, not white. What the manufacturers do is dip, or plate the grey gold in rhodium – this makes it look ice white – problem is, as with all plated items, it does come off with wear – and especially if it is s wedding ring for a man (men are generally much harder on their jewelry. If you want a white coloured wedding ring then your best bet is platinum or palladium – both are naturally white and very hard. Of course if you like the earthy grey then a titanium ring is the answer – at a fraction of the price of any precious metal, and it will wear far better than any other metal. Many people ask if the copper will not stain their fingers – this will not happen unless you have a very acidic skin – the alloy of gold and copper is still in the correct percentages for the carat – 37.5% fine gold for 9ct, 75% fine fold for 18ct – so the amount of pure gold is still the same.
Red gold is not a metal for everyone – it has a specific look and the more traditional buyer prefers yellow gold. White gold is the first choice for engagement rings and diamond rings, although palladium or platinum is by far the superior metal to set a diamond into. Of all the gold alloys, yellow gold holds it’s position as the most popular choice for men with titanium creeping closer due to the low cost.