What Is White Gold

White gold jewellery started gaining popularity since the beginning of 20th century as an indirect outcome of popularity being gained by Platinum jewelry. Yellow gold was becoming commonplace as more and more people were able to afford jewelry made of yellow gold. As such the wealthy strata of society wanted to be more exclusive in showcasing their wealth. The elite class turned to platinum jewelry which was even more expensive than gold and hence more exclusive. Louis the 15th considered platinum to be a metal fit for kings. Those who could not afford platinum turned to white gold which was similar in look to platinum but less expensive.

Moreover, during World War II many governments of the world including UK government prohibited the use of platinum for any purpose barring military use. As such, the demand for white gold perceived as an alternative to platinum just zoomed.

White gold in nothing but your normal yellow gold in a new avatar. So what gives the traditional yellow gold the desired white color? This is attained by adding a combination of other metals such as Nickel, Manganese, Silver, Palladium, or even Platinum to gold. Such metal mixtures are called alloys. The usual yellow color of gold gets bleached in the alloy giving it a white hue. The use of Nickel to make white gold has been minimized because of allergic reactions to the wearer.

Don’t start to think that white gold jewelry is not genuine gold jewelry. Even the conventional yellow gold jewelry is never made from pure gold. Pure gold is extremely pliant and ductile meaning that it can be beaten into very thin sheets or it can be drawn into delicate long wires. This property makes pure gold soft and jewelry made of pure gold fragile. Hence pure gold has always been mixed with other harder metals to make jewelry sturdy and durable. The degree of purity of gold is denoted in karats. 10 karat gold is less pure than 14 karat gold which itself is less pure than 18 karat. 24 karat gold is the purest form of gold but it is used only for banking and investing purposes and not for making jewelry. The same unit of karat is also used to denote purity of white gold in a similar manner. White gold is also usually given a surface polish of rhodium to give it the desirable pure white color and luster.

When nickel is used for making white gold, the resultant alloy is harder and can be used to make rings, bracelets, pins etc which need to be tough to handle wear and tear. When palladium is utilized to make white gold it is softer and hence more appropriate for gemstone jewelry. But palladium is very expensive and has a high melting point.

Silver is less expensive and easier to work with but unfortunately it is not a good bleaching agent and white gold made using silver does not have the desired degree of whiteness. Platinum is used for making white gold when it has to be used for crafting high end white gold jewelry.

Mens Jewelry items like diamond rings, diamond earrings and wedding bands are also crafted both from white gold and platinum.

White gold jewelry looks very graceful with its understated white color goes with any type of clothing because of its neutral color. Ornamented with diamonds or other precious stones, white gold does not invite attention to itself and the entire attention gets focused on the stones thus accentuating the beauty of the stones.

Jewelry made of white gold need particular care. They should never be dipped in any type of cleanup solution as they may get corroded and blackened. They should be regularly cleaned with silver polish cloth to keep them gleaming. If the jewelry items particularly rings and bracelets are rhodium polished, they may need re-polishing with rhodium twice a year.

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June 4, 2011 | Filed Under What Is White Gold, mens jewlery 

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