Is Rose Gold real or plated?

A History of Rose Gold

Rose gold has long been a popular choice for precious jewellery, having originally been developed in Russia in the mid to late 19^th century. According to the auction house, Sotheby’s, it was originally developed by Faberge and called Russian Gold .  It wasn’t until it became popular with other jewellers that it was re-named Rose Gold to reference the warm coppery shade.

Rose gold became increasingly popular in the 1920’s. Of course, with the decadence of the era reflected in more elaborate and ornate jewellery designs. Designers such as Cartier used rose gold to add intricate flourishes to their jewels. It’s this time period which, I believe, gives rose gold its modern association with vintage and delicately detailed designs.

During the mid to late 20^th Century the popularity of rose gold declined as designers and jewellery lovers favoured the modern crisp white look of platinum and later palladium. This was especially true of engagement and wedding rings. Until a few years ago, white metal remained the most popular choice for our bespoke commission customers too.

The Rise of Rose Gold

Recently, the trend towards using rose gold in engagement, wedding rings and dress jewellery is increasingly popular. This has led to many more enquires about rose gold jewellery across all of our studio and shops. Therefore we’ve increased rose gold items in our ready to wear collection too. Our team of designers have developed a number of exciting new one-off engagement and wedding ring designs. As well as that, we have collection pieces made of rose gold in our dress jewellery range too.

The designs we’ve created have a staggering spectrum of inspiration. From delicate vintage and nature inspired engagement rings to bold modern bubble inspired rings set with rose cut diamonds.  It seems that the revival of rose gold’s popularity gives designers a sense of freedom in design style. It’s fresh and exciting to use, yet has a history to it as well.

Is it real or plated?

With its increased popularity we have experienced questions around the make-up of rose gold. In particular, is it a type of gold in its own right or is it another metal which has simply been plated?

The answer is that it is very similar to any other kind of gold which is alloyed for use in jewellery. All gold when it is mined from the earth is yellow in colour and incredibly soft. So to make it into the gold we use in jewellery the pure gold is mixed with a series of other metals to make it workable and suitable for everyday wear. The metals it is mixed with are called alloys and it is the colour of these alloys which determine the end colour of the gold. For example yellow gold is mixed with metals such as brass; white gold with silver, platinum or palladium. In the case of rose gold, copper is used to give it a warm rosy-hue. So 9 carat or 18 carat rose gold is in fact completely solid rose-coloured gold. If you cut through a rose gold ring it will be a consistent colour all the way through.

How to know if your rose gold jewellery is plated

That’s not to say that plating is not available in rose gold. It actually is possible to make an item of jewellery in silver or brass for example and then electro-plate it with yellow or rose gold. This jewellery would not be possible to hallmark as 9 carat or 18 carat rose gold because the testers at the Assay Office would be able to tell that it is not solid metal. Therefore they would not mark it. Any jeweller who plates their silver with rose gold is required by law to disclose that the rose gold is only surface plating, or vermeil as it is often called. So, if you’re looking for genuine solid 9 carat or 18 carat rose gold the best thing to do is look for the 375 or 750 hallmark inside your jewellery.