Talking about Gold, the image that comes to mind is of a metal with a soft, yellow glow. Indeed, the incomparable golden hue of this precious metal GOLD has been part of its appeal and fame for centuries. But for a jeweler, there are more shades of gold available than just yellow - and in a spectrum of different hues. The color the gold takes on depends on the metals it is mixed, or alloyed with.

Yellow Gold

Natural gold and color-saturated alloys are what give yellow gold jewelry its rich shine. The alloys most commonly used, are copper with a red hue, and silver featuring a green hue. An expert mixture of copper, silver and pure gold gives this precious metal its original color.

Rose Gold

Rose gold, also known as pink or red gold, is created by increasing the copper-colored alloys mixed with the gold and decreasing the silver-colored alloys. 14K rose gold is slightly pinker in color compared to 14K gold because there is more copper in the alloy compared to the amount of copper in 14K gold alloy. 18 k gold, containing 25% copper is found in antique and Russian jewelry and has a distinct, though not dominant, copper cast, creating rose gold.

White gold

To give White Gold its brilliant shiny white luster, the final process of making White Gold involves plating the metal with a layer of Rhodium. Rhodium is a shiny white metal, which is extremely hard and durable. Over time, with regular wear, the Rhodium plating may wear off revealing the yellow Gold underneath, and can be easily repaired by a jeweler who can redo the Rhodium plating. White gold alloys can be made with palladium or nickel. White 18-carat gold containing 17.3% nickel, 5.5% zinc and 2.2% copper is silvery in appearance. Nickel is toxic, however, and its release from nickel white gold is controlled by legislation in Europe. Alternative white gold alloys are available based on palladium, silver and other white metals, but the palladium alloys are more expensive than those using nickel. High-carat white gold alloys are far more resistant to corrosion than are either pure silver or sterling silver.