Rose, Red, and Pink Gold
"Red gold" redirects here. For the deciduous Australian Red Cedar tree, see Toona ciliata. For other uses, see Red gold (disambiguation).Rose gold is a gold and copper alloy widely used for specialized jewelry. It is also known as pink gold and red gold. As it was popular in Russia at the beginning of the nineteenth century, it is also known as Russian gold, but this term is now obsolete.
Although the names are often used interchangeably, the difference between red, rose, and pink gold is the copper content – the higher the copper content, the stronger the red coloration. A common alloy for rose gold is 75% gold and 25% copper by mass (18 karat). Since rose gold is an alloy, there is no such thing as "pure rose gold".
A common formulation for red gold is 50% gold and 50% copper.
Up to 15% zinc can be added to copper-rich alloys to change their color to reddish yellow or dark yellow.
During ancient times, due to impurities in the smelting process, gold frequently turned a reddish color. This is why many Greco-Roman texts, and even many texts from the Middle Ages, describe gold as "red".
Read more about this topic: Colored Gold
Famous quotes containing the words pink and/or gold:
“Racism as a form of skin worship, and as a sickness and a pathological anxiety for America, is so great, until the poor whites—rather than fighting for jobs or education—fight to remain pink and fight to remain white. And therefore they cannot see an alliance with people that they feel to be inherently inferior.”
—Jesse Jackson (b. 1941)
“‘Tis not the balm, the sceptre, and the ball,
The sword, the mace, the crown imperial,
The intertissued robe of gold and pearl,
...
Not all these, laid in bed majestical,
Can sleep so soundly as the wretched slave
Who with a body filled and vacant mind
Gets him to rest, crammed with distressful bread.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)