Everything you need to know about the ring: Metals

The ring; a symbol of eternity, love and commitment.  But there are so many different types of settings, metals, and decoration techniques to consider before buying the special gift – whether it be an engagement, eternity or wedding ring.  In this two part series we will give you an overview of the choices you face and tips to help you make the right one. Last week we gave you a rundown of the different aspects of ring settings. This week we explain the most popular metals used for rings!

Rings are created in many different metals;

Yellow Gold Wedding Band

Gold rings are one of the most popular and classic choices. Gold is malleable, durable, hypoallergenic, tarnish-resistant, and rare enough to be precious.  For jewellery, gold is often alloyed or melted with other metals such as copper, silver, zinc, and nickel to give the metal added strength. This combination creates the different karat measurements, for example 18-karat gold and 14-karat gold. 24-karat gold is gold in its purest form. The imprint of karat is called its quality mark and can be found on the inside of a ring band.

18K gold is considered to be the industry standard for high quality jewellery.  Higher karat alloys are softer and more flexible, and therefore found in very intricate pieces of jewellery; but these higher purity metals may not be suitable for every day wear as they’re prone to damage.