White Gold

If you didn’t know already, White Gold is actually man-made. In around the 1920’s it was introduced by the Balais brothers who began experimenting with formulas for white gold as an affordable substitute for platinum in engagement rings and wedding rings. The end result also provided a stronger alternative to silver. 

White Gold is an alloy of gold and at least one white metal such as palladium or nickel. To make the gold white, it is combined with metal alloys that are white in nature and plated with the extremely hard element Rhodium.  Rhodium is more scratch resistant than some metals such as platinum and gives the White Gold its polished finish.

18ct White Gold is 75% pure gold which is denoted by a 750 stamp within your hallmark. For wedding rings the alloys include: Gold (75%), Silver (7.5%), Copper (3.5%) and Palladium (13%).  And for engagement rings, there is Silver (3%), Copper (12.5%) and Palladium (9.5%).

There are two main benefits to White Gold. Firstly, it never goes out of style. Originally, White Gold was only meant to be around temporarily but it has held its own by staying around almost 100 years later.

Secondly, it is a lot cheaper than Platinum which usually costs around 4 times the price of gold. A good example to show this would be from earlier this year, when Nicole Kidman wore almost $7 million (approx £5 million) dollars worth of Platinum jewellery designed by Harry Winston to the Academy Awards.

Source: http://www.harpersbazaar.co.uk

 

White Gold is malleable and easy to work with; it’s strong and durable, and is easy to repair, resize, polish and straighten which makes it very popular with jewellers and wearers alike. The bright finish gives a smart and sophisticated look. While White Gold jewellery certainly is cheaper than Platinum, it doesn’t mean the quality is a great deal less.

Some of our best sellers and favourite pieces include both the white gold engagement rings & white gold bridal set rings, which are available to buy on our website.