The jewellery market today is riddled with many and many metals of different colours, but no other material can take the place of gold in an Indian household. Gold has always been a fan favourite every jewellery shopper as it is believed to bring wealth and prosperity to the buyer and the wearer. However, as the time changed, people began to see gold more than just an investment; gold is now viewed as a luxury jewellery item, which is not locked up in lockers but wore on a daily or occasional basis.
Even as the classic shade of gold, yellow has now seen significant changes and people flock to buy rose gold jewellery or white gold items now. But little do they know about these two shades and their properties. Although of the same composition, yellow, rose, and white gold are different in many aspects, which has nothing to do with their colour. Here we’ll walk you through the different elements of white, rose, and yellow gold to help you decide on buying gold jewellery the next time you plan on expanding your accessory collection.
What is White Gold?
A gold metal of white shade is called white gold (duh!). But do you know how white gold is made? They’re not found in nature as yellow gold. Instead, white gold is made by mixing gold (yellow) and white metal, preferably palladium, manganese, or nickel. White gold is as real as yellow gold. Even the purity of white gold is measured in karats, same as yellow gold.
In case you like the white shade in your jewellery and don’t want to pay a huge amount for platinum, white gold is a good alternative. The addition of white metals makes the gold durable and tough for jewellery making, less susceptible to scratching and denting.
What is Rose Gold?
Similar to how white gold gets its colour due to white metals, a rose gold or pink/red gold gets its hue when gold is mixed with a copper alloy and silver. Rose gold is made of three metals: 24k yellow gold, copper, and silver, that gives the metals its distinct red hue. Rose gold is also combined with white gold or yellow gold to produce a multi-coloured gold that offers a unique look to the jewellery.
Due to its red shade, rose gold is slowly gaining traction among engagement ring designs and love bands.
What is Yellow Gold?
We all know about the yellow gold. It is the most famous among the three gold colour types, and available in nature in the yellow shade. While other gold colours are made by adding alloys to the yellow gold, the classic yellow gold is available in this shade in its natural habitat. However, even the jewellery of yellow gold is no pure.
24k yellow gold is delicate and malleable, which is unsuitable for jewellery making. To give it a sturdy and hard surface, pure yellow gold is mixed with metals like zinc. Hence, gold jewellery is available in 18k or 22k.
Higher the amount of alloy, lower the purity of gold.
White Gold vs Rose Gold vs Yellow Gold
Durability/toughness – Among all three of these gold types, the rose gold is the most durable and tough. By mixing with copper, rose gold becomes very sturdy, the resulting alloy is more rigid than yellow or white gold. After rose gold, white gold comes in the second position with its alloy with white metals. While yellow gold is the classic, vintage among all the types, it’s still the least durable and tough.
Jewellery Setting – There are three primary shades of gold, rose, white, and yellow. Which jewellery setting, do you think, looks good with each one of them? We would say that yellow gold essentially goes with anything; it shines brightest when paired with a colourless diamond stone or different enamel hues.
In case of rose gold, you can go with vintage-inspired rings that have different motifs on them. Usually, enamel shades also go well with rose gold, but you’ll need to be careful about which colour to infuse. White gold, on the other hand, goes best with diamond stones of high-clarity and less colour to give it an overall white appearance.
Karat – The gold karat always depends on the purity of gold in a jewellery item. If the rose gold jewellery of your choice says it is of 18k, then the gold content in the item is 18k while the rest is mixed metal. In terms of karat, rose, white, and yellow gold are same as it only signifies their presence in the accessory.
Price – Again, the cost of gold jewellery highly depends on its karat and weight. An 18k white gold earring maybe expensive than a 14k yellow gold. If price matters for you, then you must look at the karat and weight of the jewellery items you choose to buy.
Care – Every gold type requires good care, but yellow gold jewellery requires regular cleaning and polishing. While you can go a couple of weeks without cleaning rose and white gold, you must give extra attention to yellow gold items as they’re more susceptible to scratches.
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