Gold

From ancient times, the beauty of gold has inspired craftsmen to create jewellery, for personal adornment and as symbols of wealth and power.

To make hard wearing jewellery pure gold is mixed/alloyed with other metals.  This hardens it and can influence the colour.  For example silver, nickel or palladium gives a whiter colour.  A small amout of Titanium can be used if hardness is important.

The carat scale is used to measure the proportion of gold used in jewellery.  Pure gold is 24 carat which equates to the fineness of a gold bar.  18 and 9 carat gold are usually used for jewellery.