QUALITIES OF GOLD
It's rare, beautiful, and doesn't tarnish, no wonder gold is so important.
Pure gold is softer than lead - so it has to be alloyed with other
metals. This makes it possible to produce a range of colours.
White gold which looks almost like silver.
Rose gold which has the rich sheen of copper.
Yellow gold where the alloy is kept as close in colour as possible
to pure gold, although as the amount of gold in the mixture becomes
less, there is a slight change of colour.
The proportion of gold in the mix is described either as parts of
gold per 1000, or by carat, where 24 carat is pure gold. In most countries
only certain qualities can be sold, and in the UK these are the legally
recognised alloys.
Gold is a satisfying metal to work. It casts well, and can be
worked with simple hand tools, which have hardly changed over the
years.
Customers often ask if they wear rings made from different carat
gold together, will the higher carat gold wear faster? We've never
seen any conclusive evidence to answer this question. Inevitably 2
rings will wear each other, and if one is an engagement ring and the
other a wedding ring - which is often the case - eventually the engagement
ring will have to be rebuilt, whereas wear to the wedding ring is
not so serious.
Is Old Gold better than New Gold
A comment we often hear is that older gold is is some ways better
than new. So what are the facts?
18ct gold is 18ct gold. If a piece of jewellery is described as,
say 18ct, then 75% of the metal is gold, the balance is other metals.
And that percentage remains exactly the same as the item ages.
Why is old gold sometimes a different colour? As explained above,
the colour depends on other metals in the alloy, and the exact mix
depends on the company which made the alloy, as well as what colours
were fashionable when the alloy was mixed.
So which will last longer? Jewellery does slowly wear out when used,
so in theory a new piece will outlast a secondhand item, provided
both are made to the same quality. However on rare occasions new items
may reveal casting faults when worn, normally the supplier will rectify
these free of charge. But such problems are less likely to occur with
secondhand items.
Secondhand items often are better value for money. Because most people
prefer to buy new, we are only able to sell secondhand items by making
their price more tempting. So if you can buy secondhand, you will
probably get better value for money. However there are exception -
some pieces of jewellery are more desirable when old than when new.
Gold Leaf:
If gold is beaten out, it eventually forms an amazingly thin sheet,
called gold leaf. In this form much of the cost lies in the work of
beating it out! However even this thin, the resistance to weathering
is outstanding. That's why Weathercocks are coated with gold leaf.
Welsh Gold:
Since Roman times, a small quantity of gold has been mined in Wales.
Sadly I have to report that the last gold mine in Wales closed at
the end of January 1999, at the time of writing there is no indication
that any more Welsh gold will be mined. It really is the end of an
era.
Welsh gold looks exactly the same as any other gold, but it is
very rare and also is expensive. That's nobody's fault, there isn't
much gold to recover from the ore, so mining costs are very high,
also wages in the UK are much higher than in other gold-producing
countries. It is the very high cost of extraction, coupled with payments
due to the British Royal Family who legally own the gold in Wales,
which finally caused this industry to disappear.
Some items are sold and described as containing a proportion of
Welsh gold. When we enquired we were told that less than 1% of the
gold is Welsh! Buy such items for their beauty - not their content
of Welsh gold! The makers of these items say they have enough Welsh
gold to continue the range for a few years, after which their stock
will be exhausted.
So when buying an item made from Welsh Gold, ask for a clear statement
that all the gold is Welsh. Any shop selling real Welsh gold jewellery
will be delighted to supply proof that you are buying genuine Welsh
gold. Do note you cannot tell by the colour, Welsh gold looks the
same as any other gold. Until the last mine closed, we were selling
a range of jewellery which included a motif in Welsh gold, to enable
the customer to clearly identify the Welsh gold, that motif was always
rose gold, but this colour was achieved by alloying the gold with
other metals, otherwise the colour would be exactly the same as the
rest of the jewellery.
Until the mine closed we were able to supply Welsh gold wedding
rings, but they were very expensive. A 9ct ring, 2mm wide would cost
over UKP300! Unless another mine opens, the only hope of buying a
Welsh gold wedding ring is the rare possibility of finding a shop
with one in stock, or even less likely, buying secondhand.
Rolled Gold:
Years ago, somebody had a bright idea. He took a sheet of brass and
sandwiched it between 2 thin sheets of gold, then rolled them out.
Then he produced rolled gold jewellery, which mostly consisted of
brass with a thin coating of gold. Nowadays inevitably the gold is
electro-plated on to the brass, the thicker the plating the longer
the item lasts. As a rough guide in normal wear an item loses half
a micron of plating a year. So if an item is 10 micron plated, it
should last 20 years. This is of course very approximate, items like
rings and bracelets suffer from heavier wear, whilst ear-rings will
last much longer.
While I'm talking about gold plating, if you're interested in
secondhand jewellery, you may see lockets described as 9ct back and
front - it's just another name for rolled gold; today that term is
illegal as it's so misleading.
Other Uses for gold:
I've already mentioned its resistance to corrosion. Its other qualities
which account for much of its industrial use are its low resistance
to electricity and high conductivity of heat. Small wonder that gold
is often used in spacecraft, as well as in other high quality electrical
items. Actually in both cases silver would be better, but its tendency
to tarnish makes it less useful in high quality applications
Disclaimer
Opinions and interpretation of law expressed here are my own. If you
stand to lose as a result of any decision based on information here
you should seek appropriate legal advice. I give this information
freely, and cannot accept any responsibilities for losses you may
incur. Nor can I accept responsibility in the unlikely event of inaccurate
or misleading information. You alone are responsible for your actions.
Also while much of the information is relevant throughout the EU,
I have written with particular regard for accepted practices in the
UK.
