Use of 18k white gold in jewelry

750 gold, what does it mean?

When visiting jewelry stores, you cannot help but notice that buyers are interested in jewelry made of 750 gold. Therefore, a person inexperienced in jewelry has a desire to find out about 750 gold, what it is. As you know, when making jewelry and objects from precious metals, alloy impurities are added to ensure sufficient hardness. The test mark on such products indicates the value of the gold component of the alloy.

For example, 750 gold consists of 3/4 precious metal and 1/4 alloy additives. Therefore, 750 standard on the jewelry indicates a large gold component. However, this composition affects the strength of the product, making it less wear-resistant. But the equally popular popularity of 585-carat products can be explained simply. Due to the higher content of impurities, such a gold-containing alloy has more durable properties; this is the main difference between 585 and 750. Therefore, choose it for everyday wear. If you need to increase the significance of the gift, then it is better to do this with jewelry made from 750 samples.

About the composition of products

To impart hardness and strength, other metals are used in an alloy with it in a certain proportion. Their value is less, but they impart hardness to the structure of the alloy. 750 gold standard has a high cost due to the expensive alloy metals; the digital value of the standard indicates the amount of impurities.

750 standard gold is made from an alloy that has high strength and hardness, and at the same time has the property of not tarnishing. Forging this metal is very simple, so jewelry made from this sample is very widely represented. Due to its properties and value, 18 karat gold is the norm accepted by the jewelry industry. You should still be careful when wearing, especially rings, as there is a risk of scratching them.

Compliance with metric, spool and carat systems

In jewelry, several assay systems are used to determine the amount of ligature in a gold-containing alloy. Today, when marking precious items, two systems are used: metric and carat. The first shows the weight content of the precious metal in the alloy. For example, metric 750 means that a kilogram contains 750 grams of pure gold.

According to the karat system, the gold alloy is conventionally divided into 24 equal parts, and the hallmark shows how many of these parts are pure gold. When converting carat to metric, the formula is used: number of carats x 125:12. It is not difficult to calculate from it that 18 carats corresponds to 750 metric gold. In Russia, until the mid-20s of the last century, a spool testing system was used. The spool test identified the number of precious metal spools in 1 pound of alloy, which corresponded to 96 spools. When converting spool valves to metric, we used the formula: number of spool valves x 125:12.

Carat system

What is a carat? A carat is a unit of measurement for a precious metal in an alloy. 1 carat of gold is an indicator of the same thing as fineness; it corresponds to the proportion of gold in the alloy. Therefore, the question about the number of grams in a product is not entirely correct; it is more suitable for those interested in the weight of precious stones. In the international system, gold carats indicate its weight in the alloy, divided into 24 weight units. Thus, if the metric system designates a material without impurities as a metal that contains 99.9% yellow metal, then the carat percentage is equal to 24K. For example, 9 carats contain 9 parts of gold and 15 parts of other alloy elements. Which sample will correspond to this indicator? This alloy contains 37.5% precious metal, which will correspond to 375 standard, according to our current metric system. 750 gold has 750 grams of metal per 1000 grams of alloy.

What is the price

Since 18k gold jewelry is popular, many people want to know how much this precious alloy is worth. Compared to other gold-containing alloys, it is highly valued. The price of 1 gram in March 2021 averaged just over 1,800 rubles. It must be said that it largely depends on what alloy metals are added to the alloy, despite the small percentage of their content. The large amount of pure aurum in the alloy makes it quite soft, so silver, nickel, platinum and palladium are added to increase the hardness. The last two precious metals are quite expensive, and therefore their addition significantly increases the cost of gold.

Expensive, but at the same time popular is 750 white gold. It is worth noting that famous jewelry houses are engaged in the manufacture of products from high-grade white metal, and they make them in a single copy, thereby increasing the already fabulous prices. To add gloss and luxury to the appearance, such jewelry is often encrusted with precious stones. Only wealthy people can afford to buy them. For most buyers, the 750 standard is less attractive compared to its “related” in popularity, the 585 standard, since 1 gram of it costs 1.5 times more.

Price

Products with the 750 marking have a high cost, but despite this fact, they are in demand in the jewelry market. Trading participants, producers and consumers, monitor the price per gram of gold. It can change, and its meaning is influenced by several aspects:

• the cost of a noble nugget on the world market;
• price for yellow metal approved by the Central Bank of the Russian Federation;
• complexity of the product, payment for the work of the craftsman;
• industrial production costs;
• mass, color;
• manufacturer's fame.

The average cost is formed from monitoring prices in purchases, pawn shops, and jewelry stores. At the beginning of autumn 2021, the average price for 1 gram of 750 gold is 3,500 rubles.

For comparison, 1 gram of 585 brand is one and a half times cheaper than 750.

Contents and colors

The ligature in the gold alloy can be represented by silver, platinum, palladium, nickel or copper. Different ratios of alloy additives change the characteristics of the alloy and its color. By combining impurities you can get many shades of gold, familiar ones like yellow or unusual ones like pink, green or even chocolate. The main thing is to maintain the ratio of impurities:

• for 18k yellow gold, the alloy consists of equal parts of silver and copper (12.5% ​​on average);
• You can achieve a greenish tint by adding more silver (25%);
• 750 gold is red in color, due to the content of copper (21%) and silver (no more than 4%);
• the alloy becomes pink if the proportion of copper is 16.7% and the proportion of silver is 8.3%;
• the dominance of platinum, palladium or nickel in the alloy makes it possible to obtain white gold.

In white gold, platinum, palladium and silver are called noble alloys. Platinum is an expensive metal. In the ligature of the “platinum” white alloy, it accounts for 8%, but they cost much more than 75% of the yellow metal. For this reason, products made from 18-carat “platinum” white gold are extremely rare. It is used to make settings for large diamonds. Most jewelry is made from “palladium” white gold; despite its high quality, it costs much less.

In earlier times, high-grade “nickel” gold alloy was used in jewelry. The only positive quality was considered to be cheapness. All other qualities were below any criticism. For this reason, nickel is practically not used today. True, in the material used in the manufacture of thin decoration elements, the alloy may contain nickel and palladium, since the former increases ductility, but its share does not exceed 4%.

New time standard

Based on regulatory documents, we can say with complete confidence that hallmarking of silver with 750 hallmark is not carried out in modern Russia. Another thing is gold. Sample 750 is a guarantee of high quality of the product. After all, 1000 grams of such a compound contains 750 grams of noble metal. It is not surprising that this alloy is becoming increasingly popular, gradually pushing into second place the most famous standard of Soviet times - gold 585 (previously 583).

The advantages of the modern standard are low susceptibility to acids and alkalis, wear resistance and high anti-corrosion properties, bright shine and rich shades. Aurum 750 is easy to process, polish and bend, and gives excellent results when soldering. Some jewelers use this alloy as a base when working with colored enamel. And the introduction of various ligature additives gives goldsmiths the opportunity to play with the color of the products they make, turning them into genuine works of art.

Currently, in the Russian Federation there are ten grades of 750 gold, the tones of which vary as follows:

The alloys used by manufacturers also affect the physical characteristics of the alloy. Copper and silver add wear resistance, and palladium increases the strength of the product several times.

The excellent consumer properties of 750 gold, its noble appearance and high liquidity have led to the widespread use of the metal in jewelry production. Wedding rings, chains, rings, earrings, and pendants made from this material are in good demand. It should be borne in mind that the price of these items depends not only on the composition of the alloy, but also on the design of the jewelry, the policies of manufacturers and sellers, and the situation on the precious metals market.

The fashion for 750-karat gold products came to Russia from Europe. From there, a significant amount of jewelry products comes to the Russian Federation. It is not difficult to understand its quality, since basically in international practice the same metric testing system is used as in the Russian Federation. The exceptions are the USA, Switzerland and some other countries where the system called British is popular. When working in the order determined by it, pure gold is accepted as 24 carats. To find the value of a 750 sample within the framework of carat standardization, it is enough to multiply 750 by 24 and divide by 1000. The resulting 18 carats (18K) will be applied to the product as a marking.

Thus, the 750 fine alloy is among the most popular among both jewelers and jewelry lovers, which is explained by its high content of precious metal, excellent performance characteristics, manufacturability and excellent aesthetic qualities. And since grades of such gold are in the segment of the most expensive alloys (the price per gram currently ranges from 2 to 3 thousand rubles), investments in products made from them can be considered very promising.

Product quality

The inert metal aurum does not react with oxygen, and, therefore, the air does not oxidize it. It would seem that all gold-containing alloys, where 750 standard is indicated, should not darken from reagents. Just as they should not be afraid of acids and alkalis, except perhaps from contact with aqua regia. But we must not forget about ligature impurities. Some of them oxidize in air or when exposed to a humid environment. This leads to the formation of a dark coating, but this happens much more slowly than on their low-grade counterparts. Do not also forget that high-quality products can be easily damaged. If handled carelessly, scratches may appear on the surface. For this reason, they are not suitable for everyday wear.