Metals for creating jewellery
The following metals are used for creating jewellery
Since millenniums metals are used during the jewellery production. Some metals, how gold, e.g., are so valuable that one waged wars around your possession and conquered whole continents to come to her possession. Gold released at different places of the world whole mass movements and people from all over the world moved, e.g., to Alaska to prospect there for gold. Also nowadays gold with a consistently high value is still a good investment even if the courses, taken down by the Future lost stock exchange of Comex topically partially to value. One speaks here of course value in contrast to the actual value. Also the silver prices or courses closely hang together with the gold value. Because silver is not half as valuable like gold, however, is the problem, that to store a considerable amount of place needed around bullion to the value of e.g. 100,000 euros one. Gold played during the jewellery production always an immensely big role. Because pure gold is very soft, nevertheless, it must be mixed with other metals, so that it can be better processed for pieces of jewellery, one calls this alloy. Also the pure gold with other metals can be well stretched (it keeps his colour), so that nowadays several different alloys at the market are:
Karat |
Legierung |
24 Karat | 100 % pure gold |
18 Karat | 75 % pure gold , corresponds to the stamp value 750 |
14 Karat | 58 % pure gold, corresponds to the stamp value 580 |
10 Karat | 42 % pure gold , corresponds to the stamp value 420 |
9 Karat | 37,5 % pure gold , corresponds to the stamp value 375 |
8 Karat | 33,3 % pure gold , corresponds to the stamp value 333 |
The original colour of gold is an intensive yellow orange. By the admixture of copper it becomes reddish (red gold), alloys with silver or platinum it becomes white gold. The other metals which are mixed with gold are a palladium, platinum and also nickel. Thus somebody who suffers from a metal allergy should rather reach not to 8 or 9 carats of gold, because the portion of the mixed foreign metals is very high and can release an allergy.
In Europe 18 carats of gold are generally usual. It is alloyed with babbitts, so that his colour bright, rather discreet is yellow. In other areas of the world one has the gold with pleasure a little bit more conspicuously, it is very often alloyed with copper and who has visited already once an oriental gold market, will remember that the gold there looks nearly a little phoney for our eyes because of the intensive reddish colour.
Silver is not so expensive as gold and is also used, therefore, with pleasure during the jewellery production. On account of his lower price one can produce of silver already sometimes the bigger pieces of jewellery which own her quite own attraction. However, silver has an immense disadvantage: it oxidises in the air and starts. Therefore, many pieces of jewellery made by machine nowadays of silver are covered with a layer of rhodium, i.e. rhodiniert. Unfortunately, the silver loses through this his light golden light own to him and a little like high-grade steel looks. Pure silver is very soft, does not start so black like sterling silver and is a little yellowish from the colour. With the soldering it becomes matt white, while sterling silver becomes black. The so-called Argentium silver on the market has lately come. Germanium is added among other things to the silver what prevents that it starts.
There are the following alloys for silver:
Name |
Alloy |
Pure Silver or Medalliensilver | 99,9 % pure silver 0.1 % other metals, stamp value 999 |
Britannia Silver | 95,84 % reines Silber, 4,16 % andere Metalle, meistens Kupfer, stamp value 950 |
Sterling Silver | 92,5 % reines Silber, 7,5 % andere Metalle, meistens Kupfer, stamp value 925 |
Argentium Silver | 92,5 % pure silver, 6,4 % other metals snd 1,1 % Germanium, stamp value unknown. |
Coin Silver | Different alloys with a lower silver portion than 92.5%. Still the stamp value 800 is known here what corresponds to a portion of 80%. This alloy was used, for example, for silver cutlery. |
Nickelsilver, Tibetsilver, Argentine mica | These concepts stand for silver-coloured products which mostly exist of nickel or a nickel alloy, zinc alloy and copper alloy. |
Platin
belongs to the precious metals and is currently the most valuable precious metal after rhodium. At the moment it is more valuable than gold and is considerably more expensive than silver. Hence, it is used to the production by expensive jewellery, also because it is clearly harder and is mechanically more stable than gold. On account of his colour and state it is processed with pleasure together with diamonds.
Titan
is a grey high tech is a metal which is also used to the jewellery production. It is nearly as resistant to corrosion as platinum and is as strong as high-grade steel, however, about 45% lighter than this. Titan corrodes only at raised temperatures from approx. 400 degrees what plays, nevertheless, no role with pieces of jewellery. It is used in the jewellery industry with pleasure for watches and man's jewellery.
Stainless steel
is not to be imagined as not existing in the jewellery world any more. It is an extremely stable material, does not oxidise and does not rust, hardly gets scratch and resembles in the colour the silver, however, is more favorable than this. High-grade steel is used with pleasure for modern designs.
Niob
is another modern metal which strikes by his colour and often finds use with piercing jewelry.
Wolframcarbid
Since beginning of the century Wolframcarbid, falsely often as Wolfram called, also during the jewellery production finds use (Tungsten jewellery). It concerns here nichtoxidische ceramics which exist of Wolfram and carbon. Wolframcarbid distinguishes itself by his big hardness.