Tuesday, June 17, 2014

Black Gold Jewelry! calm down people..... nothing new here.

Black Gold. Sounds epic right? I foresee a huge increase of Gothic themed bling coming to a jewelry store near you very soon. Or, maybe not. Let's talk about why.
There's yellow gold, white gold, pink gold, and even green gold. So what makes the difference? Alloys. Add Nickle and (other things) to yellow gold and you have a dingy white gold metal. Plate it in rhodium and it's pristine white. Add copper (and other things) to yellow and you have pink (or rose) gold. Add silver (and other things) to gold and you get green. Every manufacturer has a different recipe of how to make these different colors, that's why I kept throwing in the disclaimer (and other things) There is no universal ratio. It's kinda like chocolate chip cookies. Every Baker has a recipe, and they all think theirs is the best. 
So what's this black gold? It's a plating. To be fair, Most of the sites I have seen advertising Black Gold made a point of mentioning that fact in fine print somewhere, but there are sites where it isn't specified. Remember when I said that we rhodium plate white gold to make it bright white? It's a similar process with the black gold. Black rhodium is used to alter the color of the metal it is being applied to. Like rhodium for white gold, the plating will wear off over time depending on 1: The quality of the plate 2: How often the piece is worn 3: Elements the wearer exposes the piece to such as bleach, chlorine, ammonia, ect. (Plating will also come off on buffing machines if you take your piece to be polished, or during repair work whenever a torch is involved). It's important to know that not all jewelry repair shops will have black rhodium to re-plate your piece when it comes off.
 In addition to black, there's also blue out there. These plates are used a lot on pieces that have colored diamonds or gemstones to amplify the stone color, or lessen the contrast of the metal setting around the stone. 
Don't let yourself be disappointed by a misunderstanding. Always read the fine print :)  Be prepared for the realities of maintenance involved in owning jewelry. 

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