A Guide to Precious Metals
Choosing The Right Metal For You
Precious metals are the most beautiful choice for jewellery due to their colour and versatility.
If you’re thinking of buying an engagement ring, commissioning a bespoke piece of jewellery or want one of our existing designs made in a different metal this quick guide will take you through the range of possible precious metals to choose from and give a little info on the characteristics of each metal.
Yellow Gold
Gold has a heritage unrivalled by any other metal and is still the most popular choice for wedding and engagement rings today.
Golds natural colour is a vibrant yellow, pure 24 carat gold is too soft to be used for jewellery so it is alloyed or mixed with other metals to strengthen it. The amount of gold present will also affect the colour and weight of the finished piece. In the UK we mainly make gold jewellery in 9 and 18 carat. 18 carat is 75% pure gold mixed with other metals which perfectly combines the beautiful gold colour with enough strength to stand the test of everyday life. The metal alloys can also be chosen for their colour which is what enables us to create jewellery in rose gold and white gold.
Rose gold
Rose gold gets is beautiful pink tone from the presence of copper as an alloy. The warmth of rose gold looks stunning against all skin tones whether a matt finish or polished to a high shine. Rose gold is the perfect compliment to white diamonds and can give a simple design a vintage twist.
It is also becoming more and more popular with guys, the subtle copper tones referencing an industrial aesthetic.
White gold
White gold naturally has a warm almost champagne tone from the mixing of yellow gold with palladium, which we think is perfect as it is. A lot of jewellers will rhodium plate white gold to give it a brilliant white shine but we prefer to keep things natural. The understated elegance of white gold works brilliantly with champagne diamonds and other coloured stones.
Platinum
Platinum is very pure, it is composed of 95% platinum mixed with iridium, ruthenium and palladium which makes it an incredibly dense, strong metal, perfect to set stones safely in delicate settings. Its natural white colour also compliments white diamonds for a simple chic look.
Silver
We use sterling silver which is hallmarked 925 this means 92.5% is pure silver mixed with 7.5% of other metals usually copper to strengthen the metal whilst keeping the beautiful colour. Silver is a lovely material to work with for its versatility. However silver should not be used to set expensive stones for this very reason, its softness means that it can be easily damaged which can lead to the setting becoming loose.
Deciding between these beautiful materials can be an exciting choice as each one will give the same design a very personal look and feel. If you’re searching for an engagement ring or special piece of jewellery check out our bespoke jewellery page and our guide to diamonds.