Precious Metal Guide
Adamas Goldsmiths carries jewellery made of white gold, yellow gold, platinum, and some rose gold and silver. We also do custom work in the same metals, excluding silver.
Gold Jewellery
Gold won't tarnish, rust, or corrode, and it's very malleable. These qualities make gold a great metal for jewellery.
Purity
Pure gold is too soft to withstand the stresses of every-day wear, so it is alloyed with a mixture of metals like silver, copper, nickel, and zinc to give it strength and durability. Karatage, noted by a number followed by "K" or “KT” indicates purity, or how much of the metal in a piece of jewellery is gold. Karatage is expressed in 24ths, making 24 kt gold 100% gold.
Gold Karat Guide
24 karat = 100% gold (Usually considered too soft for jewellery)
18 karat = 75.0% gold (Recommended for fine jewellery)
14 karat = 58.3% gold (Recommended for fine jewellery)
10 karat = 41.7% gold (Recommended for jewellery)
Yellow Gold
Adamas Goldsmiths carries yellow gold in 18, 14, and 10 karat. Generally speaking, the higher the karat in yellow gold, the softer and deeper in colour it is.
White Gold
White gold is made by mixing gold with a white metal. Gold has a natural yellow colour, so white gold has a bit of a yellow hue to it. So in order to enhance the whiteness, some white gold jewellery is plated with rhodium; a shiny, white metal which resembles platinum. Depending on the amount of wear to a piece of jewellery, this rhodium plating may wear off, revealing the original metal colour. White gold is quite harder than yellow gold. There isn't much of a difference in strength or color between 18, 14, and 10 karat. However, Adamas Goldsmiths carries a special 19 karat white gold, which is much stronger and has a whiter color than the other karats.
Rose Gold
Rose gold gets its colour from a larger proportion of copper in the metal alloy. This gives the gold a beautiful pink colour.
Pricing
The price of gold jewellery is dependent upon the purity of the gold used, as well as the design and construction of the piece of jewellery.
Care
Keep your gold jewellery away from harsh chemicals such as chlorine and cleaning fluids. This will reduce daily abrasions and prolong the gold's lustre. To clean gold jewellery, use a solution of warm water and detergent-free soap, and scrub the gold gently with a soft-bristled brush (a dull tooth brush works well). Store gold pieces separately in soft cloth bags or original boxes to protect them from the exposure to harsh daily elements.
Platinum Jewellery
Platinum has a very bright white colour, compared to white gold which has a slight yellowish hue. Most manufacturers plate their white gold jewellery to make it look more like platinum. Also, platinum is very resilient. Each time other metals are scratched or polished, a tiny bit of metal is lost. Platinum behaves differently. A scratch in platinum will push the metal in, but it will not readily chip or splinter. This means that a ring made of platinum will probably last longer than one made of gold. Lastly, it's very rare that someone is allergic to platinum, whereas it's somewhat common for people to be allergic to nickel, which is usually present in white gold alloy.
Care
Cleaning platinum regularly with mild soap and water will help it retain its luster. To smooth out any scratching, we recommend having the piece polished by our trained staff in our showroom here in Edmonton.
Silver Jewellery
Silver is quite soft, and can tarnish over time. We don't carry much silver jewellery in our store, but we can do repairs on it. We don't do custom work in silver unfortunately.