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Gold Engagement Rings

Gold has been used for centuries for wedding bands but gold engagement rings are of course the norm as well with most rings and settings being made from probably the most coveted metal of all.

Gold has always been highly desired so it is natural that it has always been used, and will always be used in the future, for our most cherished items of jewellery.

The reasons for its popularity are quite obvious; the sheer beauty of the metal; the ease with which it can be worked into intricate designs; it is one of the rarest precious metals on the planet; and, finally, it is virtually indestructible.

Although gold is incredibly rare what little is mined is so workable that a single ounce can be hundreds or even thousands of items. And, of course, any ring made from gold will more or less last forever.

Not All That Glitters Is Gold

Not everything labelled as gold is the real thing, and of course gold engagement rings or wedding bands will have different quantities of the precious metal in them though there has to be a minimum content for a ring or any other item to be legally labelled as gold.

Gold is measured in carets (or Karets) with pure gold (ie 100% gold) is classed as 24 carets. If an item is described as 12 caret (or 12K) then it is 50% gold and 50% other metal.

Gold jewellery is seldom 24 caret as, in its pure form, gold is too soft to work with. So, reducing the gold content by fusing it with another metal makes it easier for the goldsmith to produce an intricate design.

So What Is Gold?

Different countries around the world have slightly different definitions of what can be legally described as gold.

In the United States an item of jewellery must have a minimum gold content of 10 caret whilst it is 9 caret in the United Kingdom and Canada. In Europe though the standards are different with, for example, the minimum gold content being 18 caret in France.

Gold Engagement Rings

Although diamonds and other gemstones such as emeralds and ruby's form the centrepiece and focus of most engagement rings the ring itself and the settings will normally be made from gold.

There are different colours of gold and most people will have their favourites with the main types being:

Yellow Gold

White Gold

Rose Gold

Pink Gold

Green Gold

The different colours are produced by mixing pure yellow gold with different alloys. For example, white gold gold consists of a mix of zinc, silver, platinum, palladium and of course yellow gold.