We have all felt the slight chill creeping into the mornings. The children are back to school, and Autumn is drawing close. The leaves will slowly start to change and Autumn colours will start to appear. The jewellery and fashion industry also respond to the changes in colour offered by this season, with hues of brown, copper, and gold appearing in windows and shop displays throughout the high street.

What better to compliment Autumn than the warm tones of yellow, brown and copper offered by Gold? A range of variations exist in the colour of gold, offering a range of hues that work beautifully alone or in combination with each other.

There are a fair few choices, ranging from the most popular sunny, Yellow Gold, to the pinkish hues of Rose Gold. There are even some speciality metals that incorporate alternative shades, with deeper browns.

Shades of Gold

Many of the colour variations of Gold, will be alloys, with the Gold proportion occupying a certain percentage in terms of purity. 18ct Yellow Gold ( hallmarked 75 ) will retain 75% pure Gold. For variations of colour, differing colours of metal will be added to achieve different shades.

18ct Yellow Gold

This is the colour most would associate with Gold. 18ct Yellow Gold tends to be lighter, and offers a luxurious feel experiencing a re-surge in popularity. The metal lends itself well to other metal colours and 18ct White Gold is often chosen for settings, to enhance diamond whiteness. Chocolate diamonds, and brown shades of precious stones work very nicely with this colouration of metal. (see our chocolate diamond jewellery for examples.)

 18ct Rose Gold

18ct Rose Gold achieves its colouration with the addition of Copper alloy. This variation of Gold, has a more pinkish hue, hence the reference to ‘Rose’ in the name, but caries more of a coppery colouration. Variations exist with a more concentrated level of redness (see Red Gold) below. We have frequently created engagement rings in Rose Gold as a unique alternative to many of our engagement ring styles.

  Red Gold

Red Gold provides a more striking depth of pink to the metal, which is created with the addition of varying balances of Gold and Copper. A higher copper content will achieve a more pronounced red colouration and many companies have branded specific shades based on a particular alloy, such as the Rubedo range that Tiffany introduced in the last year.

Brown Gold

Further variations on gold colour can be found, where further processes enable additional colouration to the metal itself. Anodization can achieve this, frequently used for watch bezels where a pronounced brown colouration is required. Anodization changes the metal at and below the surface allowing a variety of differing metal colours to be achieved.