Gold is one of the most valuable metals in the world and is found in rivers, seas and the earth’s crust. A total of 120,000 tonnes of gold have been mined since the beginning of time, that’s about enough to fill one oil tanker. It will not rust, tarnish or corrode, in fact gold jewellery recovered from ancient Egyptian tombs was found to have remained in the same state as when it was placed there over 4000 years ago! Gold bonds easily with other base metals giving rise to the different colours available in modern gold alloys.

Yellow Gold Yellow gold is the original and most popular type of gold used in jewellery. Alloying gold with a mix of 50% silver and 50% copper produces yellow gold. White Gold White gold has become increasingly popular as a less expensive alternative to platinum. Alloying gold with a mix of silver, palladium, copper and zinc produces white gold. Rose Gold Rose gold (also referred to as pink gold) has been fashionable for centuries, its beautiful warm glow making it highly sought after to this day. Alloying gold with a mixture of 10% silver and 90% copper produces rose gold.

Platinum is a very strong white metal discovered in Russia in the mid 1700’s. It is over 50% heavier than gold and its sturdiness makes it an ideal metal for making jewellery and in particular for the setting of gemstones. All our platinum jewellery is 95% pure and is alloyed with a related metal called iridium, in order to make it easier to work with.

Silver is somewhat rare and relatively expensive, although not as expensive as gold. Fine silver has a brilliant white metallic lustre and is a very soft metal, so is alloyed with copper to make it more durable. King Henry II of England standardised the purity of silver in the 12th century. He imported refiners from an area of Germany known as the Easterling, thus silver with a minimum purity of 92.5% was referred to as Sterling Silver.

Rolled gold is made by a process of heating brass under pressure with a thin sheet of high purity (usually 18kt or 22kt) gold in order to fuse them together. The resulting metal is then worked in the normal way. The only rolled gold item that we sell is the agate and CZ bangle (Product Code 1504). Rolled gold is robust and hardwearing.