Humans have been making and wearing jewelry for thousands of years. This is a special craft that shapes metals into jewelry as if they were clay. The gold jewelry is a fashion accessory that used to be a symbol of royalty and the wealthy, today the jewelry is more than a symbol – they are a fashionable way of expression, convey messages and represent beliefs. Jewelry comes in all kinds of metals, and the most desirable metal is of course gold. Here’s everything you ever wanted to know about gold.
gold
- Gold is a soft and rare metal that can be found in nature. The metal contains many properties that make it desirable-
- Conduction of electricity – the electrical conductivity of gold is unmatched by any other metal in nature. Gold is considered a superconductor meaning it conducts electricity easily and efficiently with minimal loss of energy along the way. Due to its properties, gold is suitable for technical components, but due to its high price, it is usually only used in substitutes or alloys.
- The indifference of the material – gold is considered an inert metal, meaning it does not react or mix with other materials. This feature makes gold a material that is very resistant to environmental conditions because phenomena such as oxidation and corrosion are phenomena that occur due to a chemical reaction between metals and other substances.
- The flexibility of the material – gold is a soft metal that is easy to process so that gold can be stretched to great distances with a minimum initial mass. The ability to stretch the gold in this way is called kneading.
- The shine – gold is one of the most brilliant and unchanging metals in nature. Thanks to all its properties, it remains shiny and attractive forever, this is one of the reasons that gold seems so attractive to us – it remains beautiful, shiny and royal without being damaged over the years.
- The rarity of the material – similar to diamonds, the harder it is to find and obtain a certain material, the higher its value. According to the laws of economics, as the demand increases and the supply is low, the value of something increases, the same with gold – because it is desirable but not too common in the earth, its value remains high.
What is the difference between 14 carat gold and 18 carat gold?
The simple answer to the question is that the difference between the various carats is the percentage of pure gold in the metal. In the world of metals, mixing two or more metals is called an alloy and they exist to combine the properties of different metals. For example, in mixtures of gold, metals can be mixed to create a metal with the properties of a new color or a different level of hardness. This is how we produce gold in different colors and also cover the softness of the gold and produce jewelry resistant to blows and bends. Gold is measured by its carat. Carat: The level of pure gold within the alloys. The higher the carat, the more pure gold is present in the alloy. 24 karat gold is almost 100% pure gold, 18 karat gold is 75% pure gold and 14 karat gold is just over 58% pure gold.
What is the relationship between the color of the metal and the type of gold?
The various materials that are added to the gold alloys during the production process are the ones that complete the other percentages in the alloy. The various metals affect not only the properties of the material but also its color – the various metals that are added to gold are nickel, platinum, silver and copper. The different metals give the gold different shades and this is how white gold, yellow gold, red gold and “rose gold” are actually produced. Usually in white gold gold will be mixed with copper, zinc and nickel, in yellow gold will be mixed silver and in red gold will be mixed copper. The different colors are very common in the jewelry world, but the most common are yellow gold and white gold. The different colors of gold also come in different concentrations of pure gold and there are alloys of white gold 14 carat, 18 carat and so on up to 22 carat gold. The different alloys vary in price according to the sum of the cost of the metals in the alloy – for example a platinum ring can cost thousands of shekels for a smooth ring because platinum is a very expensive metal, more expensive than gold.
What are the uses of gold?
Gold is common today mainly in its context to the world of jewelry, but gold has served many purposes and played different roles over the years. Gold has many uses in the religious worlds: in Judaism, for example, gold blessing vessels, gold accessories for priests and gold mezuzahs were made. For the Egyptians, gold was a symbol of royalty and they would bury the dead in tombs filled with gold, thinking that their kings would be able to pay with the trophies and gold for the passage to the next world. In the Greek cultures gods were sculpted out of gold and in the stories of mythology it was said that the blood of the gods was gold. Apart from being valued in different cultures, gold was used as value in trade even before the invention of money. The first coins were made of gold and in the past gold bars were weighed and exchanged in the markets. Gold was common in records as we know 2000 years BC and is common and relevant to this day.
Gold plating
Following the popularity of the golden look, all kinds of alloys were invented that look like gold without costing like it. The goldfill, for example, which is similar to gold in its color but is much cheaper, or the gold coatings that use only a little material with a solution that produces a thin layer of gold on top of another metal and thus produces the appearance of gold without its price. Although the alternative solutions do not achieve all the properties of gold, they produce the appearance of the famous gold jewelry. The gold plating is a great solution for those who want gold jewelry but cannot pay thousands of shekels for a ring. Plating is an interesting process in which an electric current is used to attach the gold particles to the metal in the existing piece of jewelry and thus essentially create a thin coating of gold on some piece of jewelry.
The gold in the jewelry world
Today the most common form of gold is in the world of jewelry and goldsmiths. The durable and shiny properties of gold have made it an excellent metal for making luxury jewelry. Many jewelry designers choose to use gold for their art, as in Yael Givon’s brand. Yael Givon is a goldsmith and jewelry designer who deals with many metals, among them gold, her jewelry moves away from the delicate and simple “conventions” of gold and she produces interesting rock jewelry that comes to stand out and shout. Yael’s jewelry combines precious metals, black diamonds and many geometric shapes. The entire brand is full of non-standard pieces and striking and special jewelry that is not available everywhere. On the site you can find a variety of jewelry at different prices so that everyone can find something for themselves in the brand.
Summary
Gold is a rare metal found in nature. Gold has many properties that have made it the high value it is today. Its resistance to environmental damage, its softness, its indifference, its eternal luster and also the fact that it is difficult to obtain – all these have built gold over the years to what it is today. In the past gold was part of religious and cultural customs such as worship or burial ceremonies and today gold is mostly common in the jewelry world. The gold is measured in “carat” which basically states the percentage of pure gold in the alloy. 24 carat gold is completely pure gold and 14 carat gold is 58.5% pure gold. The history of gold, its properties and its name are all that stands behind the metal, the next time you buy a piece of gold, remember that it holds behind it a whole history of meaning and added value.