Rose, yellow or white gold: what changes, and what does not

The recipes

Compositions and Vickers hardness from published alloy tables; makers vary the minor metals, and 14k versions use more copper in rose and more zinc in yellow to hold the color with less gold.

Copper is the color lever. A little copper with silver keeps gold looking like gold; a lot of copper makes it pink, and the more copper the redder, which is why 14k rose is pinker than 18k rose. White gold is a different trick: gold is stubbornly yellow, so even 15% palladium or nickel produces a warm grey, and the bright white people expect is a rhodium film a fraction of a micron thick. That film is why white gold has a maintenance schedule and the others do not.

Hardness, scratches and bending

Pure gold is soft; every alloy metal hardens it. Rose gold's extra copper makes it the hardest of the colored alloys, which is why rose bands scratch a little less and why antique rose gold rings survived. Nickel white gold is harder still and springy, good for prongs that must hold a stone; palladium white gold is softer and heavier, and jewelers like it for the same reason. In practice the differences within one karat are smaller than the difference between karats: a 14k ring of any color outlasts an 18k of any color under daily knocks.

Rhodium, and why white gold can turn a finger green

Rhodium plating wears at the palm side of a ring first, in a year or three depending on hands and habits. Under it the alloy shows as a warmer grey, and if the alloy is nickel white gold with copper and zinc in it, the exposed metal can react with sweat exactly like a 14k yellow ring does, leaving a green or dark mark; nickel adds itching for the roughly one person in ten who is sensitized. The fix is a re-plate, a routine service at any jeweler, or a switch to palladium white gold or platinum, neither of which is plated. A white gold piece that never needs re-plating is either palladium-based and accepted as slightly grey, or platinum.

Skin tone, and how much it matters

The advice repeated on every retailer's page is that cool undertones (veins look blue, silver flatters) suit white gold, warm undertones (veins look green, tan easily) suit yellow and rose, and neutral undertones wear anything. It is a reasonable starting point and a poor rule. Skin tone is one variable among wardrobe, other metals you already wear, the stone in the ring and simple preference, and a person who loves yellow gold will wear it well with any undertone. If you want a test, hold a yellow and a white piece against the inside of your wrist in daylight and notice which one you stop noticing; that is usually the answer.

Metal color and gemstones

• White metals make a colorless diamond look whiter, because there is no yellow reflected into the stone from the setting; that is why platinum and white gold dominate engagement rings and why a slightly tinted diamond looks better in yellow prongs, which hide the tint by matching it.
• Yellow gold warms rubies, garnets and citrine and gives emeralds and sapphires contrast.
• Rose gold flatters morganite, pink sapphire, champagne diamonds and warm pearls, and fights with green stones.

None of this changes the value of the stone or the metal; it changes how the pair reads from across a table.

Green gold and the other colors

• Green gold is a real, old alloy: gold with silver and little or no copper, sometimes a trace of cadmium in antique pieces, which gives a pale greenish yellow. It is soft and mostly used for leaves and accents in multi-color pieces.
• Blue and purple gold are intermetallic compounds of gold with indium or aluminum; they are brittle, cannot be worked like metal, and appear only as inlays or cut like gemstones.
• Black gold is a surface treatment, either black rhodium plating or an oxidized layer, and wears off like any plating.

All of them are priced on their gold content like any other karat, plus a lot of labor.

Price, resale and the platinum question

At retail the three colors of one karat are usually priced the same, and where rose gold costs more it is the brand charging for demand, not the metal: copper is cheaper than the silver it replaces. Palladium white gold and rhodium plating do add real cost. At resale, a refiner pays for gold content and nothing else, so the three are identical per gram; the melt value in the line under the title is the number for all of them.

Platinum is a separate metal, usually 95% pure (Pt950), about 60% denser than 14k gold, so the same ring weighs more and uses more metal. It needs no plating, does not cause reactions, and instead of wearing away it develops a soft patina that can be polished back. Whether a platinum ring costs more than the same ring in white gold depends on the two spot prices on the day and on the extra weight; ask for both quotes rather than assuming.

Myths worth retiring

White gold is platinum

No. White gold is gold with white metals and a rhodium coat; platinum is its own element, denser, purer and unplated. They look alike for the first year and age differently after that.

Rose gold is not real gold

It is exactly as real as yellow: 14k rose and 14k yellow hold the same 58.5% gold. The pink is copper, and copper has been alloyed with gold since antiquity.

Rose gold is a passing trend

Rose gold was the default of Russian jewelry in the 19th century and of American watch cases in the 1930s. It comes and goes as a fashion and never leaves as a metal.

You cannot mix gold colors

You can, and jewelers have made tri-color pieces for a century. The only practical issue is wear: a white gold ring next to a yellow one rubs its rhodium off a little faster.

Questions people ask