THE COLORS OF GOLD

Ever wonder why white gold isn't as silvery as silver? We sure did.

In some light white gold looks almost like highly polished silver or nickel, but it looks slightly yellow in incandescent light.

"What's up with that?" We're glad you asked!

The color you see in gold is determined by the amount of yellow gold in the alloy, and the distribution of colors in the light that is reflected back at you from its surface.

14-karat white gold is an alloy made up of gold, copper, nickel and zinc. The nickel and zinc in the white gold reduce the red and yellow colors reflected by copper and gold.

The reduction of the red and yellow colors in white gold is not perfect, and some reds and yellows are still seen. This means that white gold is not as perfectly white, or silvery, as you might expect to see in jewelry or ring size adjusters.

The normal color of 14-karat white gold ring size adjusters, like any 14-karat white gold jewelry, is going to be almost silver, but just slightly yellow in certain lighting conditions.

14-karat yellow gold is an alloy made of gold, copper, silver and zinc. 14-karat yellow gold ring size adjusters will be as yellow as 14-karat gold jewelry.

While we're on the subject of gold colors, we might as well explain some of the other colors you are likely to see in gold jewelry. Ring size adjusters are not available in these other colors, but the information is still very interesting.

Rose gold is a gold and copper alloy. Higher copper contents yield the deeper red colors you see, and lower copper content gives you pink gold. Rose gold is an alloy, therefore there is no such thing as pure rose gold. Rose gold was very popular in Russian jewelry in the 19th century, and was once known as Russian Gold.

Green gold is made with a gold and silver alloy, leaving copper out of the mix. It tends to appear more like a greenish yellow rather than just green. Fired enamel sticks well to green gold.

Grey gold alloys are made by adding silver, manganese and copper in specific ratios to yellow gold.

Black gold is achieved by a special plating or vapor deposition process. A new laser technique has been developed that turns the surface of the gold a deep black. A femtosecond laser pulse deforms the surface of the metal forming nanostructures. The increased surface area absorbs all the light that falls on it and thus rendering it deep black. Very cool.

Purple gold is an alloy of 79% gold and aluminum. It is also known as amethyst gold or violet gold. Purple gold tends to be a little brittle, and is not usually used to make jewelry. If you have aluminum allergies you might want to stay away from this one.

Blue gold is an alloy of yellow gold and indium.

Goldfinger was the bad guy in one of the James Bond films. The gold-colored woman was pretty cool!