Antique Yellow Gold Engagement Rings Offer Beauty And Brilliance

One of the proudest possessions shown off by women is their engagement rings and many have an initial preference to the color of the band as well as the type of stone it holds. Some of the more popular older fashion ones are the antique yellow gold engagement rings. These are typically made of solid gold instead of plated nickel or brass and offer a longer-lasting brilliance if properly maintained.

One of the problems with antique yellow gold engagement rings made of solid gold is its lack of durability. It is because of the softness of the metal that most gold jewelry is plated onto a tougher, more durable metal such as pewter or nickel. However, there are some people that can wear gold but have an allergy to nickel, and pure gold is about their only option to wear that color.

During the early days of jewelry making, gold, silver and brass were the most common metals in use due to their malleability. Later jewelry, made with titanium and other harder metals required higher temperatures to forge them into the appropriate shapes. With antique yellow gold engagement rings, the gold was usually melted, forged into the shape and then polished to a high shine.

Consider Source Of Materials For Antique Jewelry

With few records kept on the materials used in antique jewelry, it is common for some less than honest dealers to pass off lead with a thin coating of metal as antique yellow gold engagement rings and due to the softness of the lead and its weight, it can be difficult for the uninitiated to tell the difference. Watch for any nicks that may appear in the surface. Passing gold jewelry off as antiques is possible when people do not thoroughly inspect the piece to notice flecks of paint where a solid surface should appear.

It is often easy for the untrained eye to be fooled into believing they are buying the real thing but dealing with a reputable dealer can take the possibility of being scammed out of the picture. Knowing the different type of jewelry made during certain time periods can also help determine if antique yellow gold engagement rings are the real thing or not.

Yellow gold is almost pure gold, although nickel alloys are often added for strength and durability. Measured in carats, the weight of a yellow gold ring without any significant alloys, will be close to the weight of a piece of pure gold of similar size.