What gold is best for engagement rings?

We all love gold and we offer it to our loved ones in the form of an engagement ring as a symbol of ?eternal love’ – along with a gorgeous sparkling diamond of course!

Gold is a hard wearing metal that now comes to us in the form of Yellow Gold, Rose Gold and White Gold.

Each of the above colours of gold contains a percentage of pure gold mixed with other metal alloys to change the colour.

• 9ct gold contains 37.5% pure gold
• 14ct gold contains 58.5% pure gold
• 18ct gold contains 75% pure gold
• 24ct gold contains 99.9% pure gold

When we mix this % of gold with the following metal alloys we alter the appearance of the finished product.

Yellow gold is normally combined with Copper and Zinc – 18ct yellow gold as it contains a higher percentage of pure gold has a more yellow colour than 9ct yellow gold.

Rose Gold is normally combined with copper to give the more reddish tinge, the higher percentage of pure gold the more rose the metal appears, a 9ct rose gold will appear more reddish in colour as the pure gold percentage is less than the copper percentage in the ring.

White gold is normally combined with silver and palladium to achieve the white colour. White gold rings are normally coated with the strong metal plating of rhodium; Rhodium has similar qualities to Platinum. For a white gold ring to retain its hard wearing cover and beautiful white colour it is recommended to be re-coated with rhodium every 12 – 18 months.

18ct gold rings of whichever the preferred finish may be are preferable to offer to your loved one, they are of higher quality and endure longer.

Platinum although valued at almost double the price of gold was originally seen as a nuisance by the Spanish conquistadors when panning for gold and continually found this white shiny metal that was thought at the time to be unripe gold!
Platinum is a very dense heavy metal that does not require rhodium plated. The metal when used in rings is 95% pure, long wearing and the much desired white colour.