In view of some truly horrible, overpriced Mother's charms I recently came across, I feel I should share a little 411 about that most favored and craved of jewelry metals, gold.
Perhaps no other substance on earth has captured the hearts, minds, and pocketbooks of men more than gold. While scholars disagree on when gold actually caught the eye of man, the precious metal's first agreed upon use was in Egypt around 4000 BC; by the time silver vases made it there, Egyptian craftsmen were already masters at goldleaf and making gold castings, and gold jewelry was old hat in Iraq. History shows gold rings were an acceptable method for repayment of debt around 3000 BC, but it wasn't until Egypt struck it rich in Nubia around 2500 BC that gold became the international standard of exchange in trade, and it took until right around 359 BC for gold coin to become common - when the Roman Empire used it to pay their armies. It was during the rule of Alexander the Great, almost 30 years later, that gold jewelry swept into high fashion and remained a valued art form for the next 300 years, until around 27 BC, when it fell from grace...and stayed there until the 4th century AD. From 200 to 400 AD, Roman-minted coins flourished, but when the empire fell in 400 AD, it was nearly a milennium before the return to widespread use of gold coin, around 1330. And it wasn't until sometime during the Neohellenic Period, beginning in 1453, that gold jewelry again rose in status and craftsmanship, with emphasis placed on elaborate and intricate creations. It quickly made up for lost time and has remained in favor ever since!
Gold is the most easily worked of all metals. One can hammer it into extremely thin sheets or draw it into very fine wire. In fact, gold is so malleable that a single ounce can be hammered into a sheet more than 100 feet square and only 5 millionths of an inch thick. To put that thickness into perspective, if you were to cover the average bedroom floor with a layer of gold the thickness of one page of newspaper, it would take 1000 of those sheets - 1000 oz. of gold - to do it! Gold is also one of the heaviest metals in the world; one cubic foot of the stuff weighs well over half a ton. Despite gold's outstanding melleability and ductility, gold is still a considered a rare metal, and with good reason: the world's entire supply of mined gold would fit into a single vault measuring 60 cubic feet, could be transported on a single ship, and is worth over $1 trillion. In addition, gold is extremely expensive to mine; it takes the extraction of 3-10 tons of nugget or dust-containing raw ore to produce a single ounce of the precious metal. Approximately half the gold currently produced in the world comes from mines in South Africa, followed by Russia, Australia, and the United States. The Homestake mine of South Dakota is the largest working gold mine in the US.
Like silver, pure gold is too soft a metal for the construction of most jewelry; therefore, also like silver, gold is combined with other metals to increase its durability. The most common metals mixed with gold are copper, zinc, nickel, and silver. Pure gold is what is known as 24K, or 24 karat gold. As with silver, the various grades of gold are expressed by the number of parts of gold they contain. 18K gold is 18 parts gold, 6 parts other alloy, for a ratio of 3:1, and a decimal grade of .750. 14K gold has 14 parts gold, 10 parts alloy and can be labelled .583; and 10K gold is only 10 parts gold, 14 parts alloy and may be labelled .416. Europe has slightly higher standards for gold, so in actuality, 14K gold from the US contains slightly less gold than the European grade of .583. By United States Federal law, anything less than 10 parts (10K) gold can not be labelled gold. In addition to lending gold strength, alloys can also change the appearance of gold. Use copper as your sole alloy, and the gold appears pink. More silver results in a green color, and using nickel as the predominant alloy results in white gold, which is also more durable than the softer yellow.
And as a side note, contrary to common belief, all gold can turn the wearer's skin black. Such color change is the result of body chemistry and is caused by a chemical reaction; however, the reaction is more likely at lower percentages of gold than with pure, 24K gold.
Gold vermeil (ver-may) is sterling silver which has been overlayed with gold. The highest quality vermeil is 24K gold, but vermeil can be made with gold as low in quality as 10K. The most common gold vermeil seems to be either 18 or 14K, but quality varies with the dealer, and as with gold, vermeil should be labelled with its karatage.
Gold-fill is a process in which gold is bonded to a base metal alloy such as nickel or brass, using a combination of heat and pressure. The amount of gold used must make up at least 1/20th of the total weight of the piece, and all exterior portions must be gold, ranging from 24K down to 10. The layer of gold in gold-filled wire is approximately 100 times thicker than that of gold plate. Most gold-filled jewelry pieces tend to be 18K, but again, the product should be labelled with its karatage, and one ought never to assume the quality of any gold.
So, those are the highest qualities of gold you should come into contact with when buying jewelry. I, myself, do not cotton to goldplate, so I did not address it here; you're mileage may vary, of course! For more on the history of gold jewelry, please visit
Greek Jewellery: 5000 Years of Tradition, a wonderfully informative article - with color photos - of the history of gold and jewelry in Greece. It's pretty interesting, if you're a fan of jewelry.
That's it for me right now. I am learning French and would just like to add, those irregular verbs are hard! Les fleurs sont très belles. :)
A bientôt,
Jenie
