What Is Red Gold Jewelry?

Pink, rose and red golds offer jewelry lovers something different from the yellow-gold standard, but just what gives these lustrous metals their signature tint? The answer is perhaps less mysterious than it seems.

Features

Rose gold ranges from light-pink to deep-red hues, but it's a little more than gold--it's a gold-silver-copper alloy. While gold itself is naturally yellow, rose gold's tints are determined by the amount of copper added.

Types

The traditional formula for rose gold, a mid-pink gold, is 75 percent gold, 9 percent silver and 16 percent copper. Pink gold has slightly more silver and slightly less copper, making it the most subtle of the rose golds, while red gold has even less silver and more copper--about 20 percent--making it the most intense.

Misconceptions

Pink, rose and red golds do not occur naturally. All are man-made, and subsequently, cannot be classified as "pure."

Fun Fact

Other colored gold alloys include white, green, black, blue and purple golds.

Famous Ties

Black Hills Gold jewelry--typified by an intricate grape design utilizing yellow, green and rose golds--was created by French goldsmith Henri LeBeau, who got lost in South Dakota's Black Hills region during the 1876 gold rush in that state. He escaped starvation by eating wild grapes, which inspired his famous "good luck" jewelry design.

References

• A Rose Gold by Any Other Name...
• The Black Hills Gold Legend

Resources

• Composition of Gold Alloys