24k Pure Gold Jewelry

We get asked a lot: what is the difference between white gold and yellow gold? Is there an advantage of having say a 24 karat gold earrings or 24 karat white gold jewelry? And our answer might surprise you. Because if you are looking for 24 karat gold jewelry or rings, you obviously want the very best gold that can be had.

Know this fact about gold: it is a mineral and when it comes out of the ground, it's almost always mixed with a little silver and other trace minerals. When miners find a gold nugget, it is normally 70 to 90 percent gold and the rest almost all silver. Gold is bright yellow from the ground - but the more silver in it, the whiter it is.

They don't find many nuggets. Most gold comes from ore and is hard to see until it is refined. So here's part of your answer: Gold is so soft when it is pure, 24 karats, that it would get bent, scratched and probably lost if formed into jewelry. What they do is add palladium and nickel to it to make white gold and it becomes harder as well.

Normal 18 k gold jewelry and 14 karat gold jewelry are pure gold (24 karats) mixed with copper, silver, and zinc. Rose gold is gold mixed with copper. Metals give gold various hues and hardness.

Pretty often in the industry, jewelers will electroplate their white gold pieces with a thin coat of rhodium, similar to platinum, so the piece is even whiter than normal. With these alloys, gold jewelers can come up with very interesting works. There isn't really an advantage of having white gold over yellow gold. It's a matter of taste and preference.

Buyers in the metals markets have been flocking to gold because the dollar is still weakening with the fluctuations in the housing and credit markets. Gold is seen as a great investment for investors when the markets are volatile elsewhere.

Just last Friday, Gold hit a 16 month high when US payroll data reported a lot lower than investors felt comfortable with. So the dollar went down.

Buying Gold Jewelry: Where Do I Shop?

These days gold jewelry is virtually everywhere you look. You can buy gold jewelry at Wal-Mart or in a kiosk in the mall. You can even buy gold from a television infomercial or from some online source. With all of this availability, it is difficult to know where to shop. The first step in understanding where to go, though, is understanding what it is that you are shopping for and where you are most likely to find it.

Know The Rules

Who knew there were rules to buying gold jewelry? Well, just like buying a stereo or a car, there are things to definitely consider before buying even the simplest of gold bands. The first thing to know is that the federal government has dictated that all gold jewelry be marked with the amount of pure gold in it; for example, that ring that is stamped 18K is literally 75% pure gold. So, always make sure that you check for the karat weight stamp, as well as the manufacturer’s stamp so that you know exactly who made this piece of jewelry and with what kind of metal.

Know The Shortcuts

So, you are standing at that jewelry counter at your favorite catalog showroom holding two gold chains. One is slightly heavier than the other; otherwise, they seem exactly the same length and millimeter size. Why is one more than fifty dollars more than the other? The answer to that is that the cheaper one is most likely made from hollow wire. It is vital to understand when you are buying gold jewelry that one of the industry shortcuts for making a usually expensive item less expensive is to create it out of hollow wire or tubing. So, be aware and know exactly what it is that you are buying before you spend your hard-earned money.

Know Your Stores

When you buy gold jewelry at a discount store then you are more likely to encounter things that are not made with high-quality materials. This means that you will really have to be aware of things like hollow metal, incomplete soldering lines and thinness. On the other hand, if you are choosy about the jeweler you trust to buy gold jewelry from, then you can be a little more at ease about the quality of the craftsmanship you will receive. The only other way that you can be more confident is to choose a custom design jeweler who will manufacture your piece of jewelry on premises.