|
Precious
metals - Platinum (Pt), Gold (Au), Silver (Ag).
The
exceptional value and charm of our wedding rings comes from
them being handcrafted from the strongest grades of titanium
and precious metals- both of extraordinary purity.
All
of our rings are hallmarked (stamped with their titanium
grade and karat mark, such as 22K, 18K, 14K, PLAT, etc.)
to guarantee you the purity of the gold, platinum, or silver
used in its manufacturing.
Hallmarking
is one of the most reassuring of quality guarantees and
one of the oldest forms of consumer protection.
Gold
The karat mark refers to the purity of gold.
Gold in its purest state, 24 karat, is generally considered
too soft for practical use in jewelry. It must be alloyed
with other special metals to increase its durability and
workability. Twenty-four karat is 100% pure gold, or 24
parts gold; 18K is 18 parts gold and 6 parts other metal;
14K is 14 parts gold and 10 parts other metal; and, 10K
is 10 parts gold and 14 parts other metal.
Alloys of less than 10 karat gold cannot be legally marked
or sold as gold jewelry in the United States. They can not
be stamped with the karat mark and are not considered real
gold.
For
the manufacturing of our titanium and gold rings we use
the following karats of gold:
- 14k,
18k and 22k yellow gold
- 14k
white gold
- 18k
rose gold
22K
yellow gold will give you the most contrast when inlayed
in titanium. It has a deep rich, ethereal yellow color.
18K
is the next best metal to combine with titanium if you are
looking for a lot of contrast. It is just a little bit paler
then 22K but still has its own nice, immaculate yellow color
and is more resilient than 22K since it has more of the
hardening alloys.
14K
white gold is made by combining pure gold with nickel and
zinc.
White gold has a soft, blithe white color with just a hint
of fair yellow. When
used for inlays in titanium, 14k white gold will not produce
a lot of contrast, especially if the entire ring is polished.
So it will work great if you are looking for a more subdued,
modest look.
Platinum
For
the manufacturing of our titanium and platinum rings we
use the PLAT 950 (95% Platinum and 5% Ruthenium).
Pure
platinum is very malleable and therefore difficult to process.
Because of this, platinum is most often mixed with other
alloys in order to create jewelry. The most commonly used
alloys for platinum are palladium, rhodium and iridium.
In the United States of America, for an item to be described
as "platinum", the platinum content must be at
least 95% platinum and 5% alloys. 95% or above, the item
can be stamped "PLATINUM", "PL" or "PLAT";
whereas anything less then 95% Platinum, the alloy also
must be stamped; e.g. IRID / PLAT for 10% Iridium alloy.
|
