White Gold Engagement Rings
A gift of a white gold diamond engagement ring or its slightly more expensive cousin, the platinum diamond engagement ring, is very much en trend at the moment. When Brad Pitt proposed to Jennifer Aniston he used a white gold ring and it now has a huge elite following among celebrities, including Elizabeth Hurley.
They originially came into fashion, though, over 80 years ago when the material was first introduced. A big hit in the 1920īs and 30īs, white gold was created soon after World War I. Prior to this period, white jewellery would have been formed almost exclusively of platinum or silver.
Many people still believe that white gold is found and not made, but even yellow gold has other metals added to it to make it suitable for use in jewellery pieces such as gold engagement rings. Gold, as it comes out the ground, is incredible soft and malleable and so other minerals, including nickel or palladium, are included to make it stronger and more resistant.
The purity of gold is measured as karats, with 24karats representing 100 percent pure gold. Most white gold engagement rings constitute 18k white gold. This means that they are made of 75 percent pure gold and 25 percent of another metal. This is the ideal mix to give it extra durability but retain the innate properties of gold which mean it will be less likely to tarnish or rust.
Once the metals are amalgamated as an alloy the resulting colour is a light grey. To give it its distinctive white silver colour and make it look brighter, however, it is then coated with rhodium. Similar to platinum, rhodium is tough and very white but needs to be re-coated approximately every 2 years on engagement rings. White gold engagement rings are a beautiful way to express your love and benefit from the elegance and sophisitication of silver-coloured jewellery, without paying the higher prices of platinum equivalents. The cost of rhodium re-coating is minimal and most good jewellers will be able to oblige.
