When it comes to gold you have a few different options.
In Australia — and many parts of the world — the standard for jewellery is either 9 carat or 18 carat. 24 carat gold is considered 'pure'.
The difference between 9 and 18 carat is the amount of alloys that have been added. 18 carat gold has fewer alloys and is 'softer' than 9 carat.
This makes it easier to work — but more importantly there's a noticeable difference in colour.
18 carat yellow gold is markedly more 'yellow' and brighter than 9 carat yellow gold.
Speaking of colour — you basically have three choices — yellow, white and 'rose'.
No doubt you're familiar with yellow gold. White gold looks a lot like polished silver, and rose gold has a reddish, almost copper colour.
Generally white and yellow gold are the most popular choices for rings — and white gold is probably more 'in fashion' at the moment.
As for cost white gold is marginally more expensive than yellow gold — currently about $6 a gram more. Our white gold is nickel free and has a high (12%) palladium content. Palladium is a luxury alloy which gives a much whiter gold doesn't pose the same allergy issues as other alloys. Our white gold is a beautiful metal for jewellers to work with. Generally speaking, 18 carat white gold of this quality should not require rhodium plating.
Platinum is the prestige jewellery metal — for practical and economic reasons.
On a practical level, platinum is tougher than gold, which make it ideal for setting valuable diamonds and gemstones. Stones are much less likely to come loose and be lost from a properly made platinum setting.
On an economic level, platinum is more difficult for jewellers to work — so that adds to the cost — but more significantly, platinum costs about twice as much as gold — and there are good reasons for that.
Even though platinum is more plentiful than gold in the Earth's crust, it's a lot more difficult to extract. Not only is most platinum found in low-density particle form (which means processing tonnes and tonnes of ore to extract enough for just one ring) it's also typically deep under ground. Some of the world's major deposits are more than a kilometre down.
The chemical processes required to refine platinum are more difficult too — taking up to six months to complete.
Even though a lot of jewellery is made of silver, when it comes to fine jewellery, silver doesn't really cut the mustard.
First of all, silver is a lot cheaper than gold or platinum. Where you might pay $60 — $70 for a gram of gold, you'll pay only $6 for a gram of silver.
This means that hand-finished silver jewellery doesn't value up very high, so basically it isn't very worthwhile when gold is almost as easy to work with.
You'll find that a manufacturing jeweller cannot make a silver ring for anything even close to the price you'd pay for a mass produced item. To get something hand made in silver you'll pay up to ten times more than a similar retail item.
(In Gold & platinum the gap narrows considerably. In fact, for rings over, say $1,500, it's typically cheaper to have one hand made than to buy the same thing off the shelf.)
Of course, another big downside with silver is that it tarnishes easily and needs to be polished on a very regular basis. (You can rhodium plate it but that's relatively expensive given the value of the metal.)
Also, many people get skin reactions to silver — because jewellery-grade silver normally contains a lot of nickel. Gold & platinum, on the other hand, are relatively inert (exceptions do occur with certain alloys) and usually don't cause skin reactions.
This may or may not be important to you, but at EJA we're very concerned about the amount of environmental damage mining for gold silver and platinum does.
Not only is mining for precious metals a very destructive process — anywhere up to twenty tonnes of ore has to be processed to produce enough gold or platinum for just one ring — but also the extraction process requires the use of some very toxic chemicals.
Whilst most mining companies go to great expense to avoid accidents, they still happen. And there are many reports of disastrous spills and leakages all around the globe. (Cyanide is the main offender, though process by-products like mercury and lead also cause significant problems. Google 'gold mining' and you'll see what we mean.)
So that we don't contribute to the problem, EJA only uses precious metals sourced from *EPA-approved refiners. Most jewellery-grade recycled precious metals come from broken and old jewellery, and from waste and off-cuts from manufacturing jewellers.
Importantly, recycled precious metals are exactly the same as their mined counterparts — and they cost no more.
In other words, you get the same quality and pay the same price for recycled metal as you do for mined metals — so there's no downside for you and plenty of upside for the environment.
For further information on our environmental policy see EJA philosophy.
*EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) approved: this means the refiners must follow strict guidelines in relation to emissions, water use and disposal practices. Premises are regularly inspected to ensure compliance.
When it comes to choosing a precious metal for your partner, it comes down to the dominant colour she generally favours.
If she wears a lot of yellow jewellery — go for yellow gold. If her jewellery is mostly 'white' — go for either white gold or platinum (if your budget allows). If she favours rose gold — there's your answer.
On a fashion level, as we mentioned above, white metals are very much 'in' at the moment.
Another thing to consider is the colour of the stones to be set in the ring.
Whilst diamonds look great in either white or yellow settings, on a yellow gold ring they're often placed in a white gold setting to enhance the brightness.
Red stones — like rubies and garnets — are enhanced by a yellow/orange background, so a yellow gold setting can be a more desirable.
Either way, just remember, with gold in particular, it's quite easy to have the band in one colour and the setting in another. You'll often see yellow gold bands with white gold (or platinum) settings — and vice versa.