ROSE GOLD
History
Rose gold has quite a long history. Starting in the time of the Roman Empire, where some of the gold coins, were a reddish color instead of golden yellow. This hue was caused by impurities present in the gold during the making of the Roman coins. That instance of ‘rose gold’ was unintentional.
Intentional rose gold made its appearance in Russia when famed jeweler Carl Fabergé began incorporating the copper-infused metal in his designs in the late 1800's. [1] This was a time when gold started to legally be used in less than 24 karats. For example, England changed it standard and allowed 18 k in 1798. [2]
Rose gold is a blend, or an alloy of pure 24 karat yellow gold, copper and silver. Pure 24 karat yellow gold is the base for all gold colors and qualities, but is too soft to be used in a pure state for jewelry. It needs to be blended, or alloyed with other metals to strengthen it enough to wear. Different alloy recipes are used to color and determine all types of metal made into jewelry including platinum, white gold, yellow gold and rose gold.
The depth of color in the rose gold depends on the ratio of yellow gold to copper. Less yellow gold, and a higher copper content will result in a more reddish rose color. As an example, 14K rose gold is more of a rose-pink color than 18K rose gold due to the higher yellow gold content in 18K.
Pure gold, or 24 karat gold is too soft for jewelry making, so harder metals are added to it, called alloying, to give it strength, and in the case of rose gold, color.
To create rose gold, one recipe of gold and alloy metals is:
58.3% fine gold
23% copper
11% nickel
7.7% zinc
At first, this metal became known as Russian Gold and eventually was renamed Rose Gold when the metal took off elsewhere in the world. Victorian jewelry artisans in England and around the world quickly started replicating the metal into their designs in the late 1800's and early 1900's
Rose gold later gained popularity in the United Stated during the lavish and feminine 1920’s, and was worn in engagement rings and fine jewelry. Rose gold fell out of favor to luxurious platinum and white gold for decades around 1910. It wasn't until the 1940's and the beginning of WWII when rose gold became popular again.
WWII played a heavy hand in the reemergence of rose gold because the war created heavy demand for platinum for other war applications, and the metal became expensive and scarce. 1940's and 50's rose gold jewelry designs were heavy and showy. They incorporated a lot of diamonds and rubies in asymmetrical designs in what is now known as the retro style. [3]
original from National museum collection
EARRINGS
Designed by: Pehr Georg Fröberg
Material: Gold, red stones
Size:
Year: 1840
Photo credit: Nationalmuseum
These delicate earrings made of forged gold, the national museum has not logged a specific karat for these earrings and I would estimate that is an 18-karat gold. The fineness classification for god in Sweden was 24 karats was a standard until 1550. 18 karat gold was the lowest allowed alloy in from 1754 to 1988 and in 1999 it was changed to 9 karats to fit the European standard.
Fröbergs minimal earrings has a simple design where he highlights the different colors of the gold and the stone. The base is made of a yellow gold, pierced rounded star shapes of rose gold are soldered on to giving showing the contrast between the 2 metals. A stone setting with a “red stone” is set in the middle of the earring, this intensifies the red tone of the earring and gives them a luster and a depth.
re-designed EARRINGS
RE-DESIGN
When redesigning these earrings, I wanted to use the different kind of gold to show how versatile this unique metal can be.
I wanted to keep the element of the stone but I wanted to transform it, I therefore made a cad drawing of it and extracted the Polygon network. I took this polygon network and gave it a volume with a radius of 0.8 mm. this created a faceted stone that was built of a wire that shows how the object is constructed.
Rose gold is a specific alloy of gold that has a unique glow to it. It can be hard to fully see the different nuances between the differences in gold, and I have therefor used four different kinds of gold in this piece. The model of the stone has been made in 14 k Yellow, rose and white gold. And the earrings wire frame has been made of 18 k yellow gold.
process picture
3d-model of redesign
Footnotes
[1] A collectors guide to costume jewelry p80
[2] Jewelry making through history p xxi
[3] https://www.liveabout.com/rose-gold-jewelry-4137637
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