Is 14kt gold good enough for my engagement ring?
“We’re shopping for an engagement ring, and my girlfriend really likes the look of this halo setting by Brian Gavin which only seems to be available in 18k white gold. All of the rings which we’ve looked at in local jewelry stores are 14k white gold, which they say is good enough. But it concerns us a bit when jewelers with the reputation of Brian Gavin, only seem to offer their rings in 18k gold. Is there a valid reason why Brian Gavin uses 18k gold, instead of 14k gold? One local jeweler told us that 14k gold is good enough, and anything higher karat than that is simply a waste of money, but we don’t have the experience to know whether that make sense.”
14k vs 18k white gold:
We do offer some 14k white and yellow gold jewelry, but our preference is to use 18k white and yellow gold to make high-end engagement rings. One of the reasons we prefer 18k white gold is that the higher gold content, means that there is a smaller percentage of other alloys mixed with the gold. The fact is that a lot of people are allergic to the other alloys which are mixed with gold to make it suitable for manufacturing jewelry, so 18k gold presents fewer problems for people.
The other advantage to using 18k white gold is that the lesser percentage of other alloys, means that there is less of a redox reaction between the chemicals released by our skin, and the alloys in the ring. This means that an 18k white gold ring is going to stay whiter looking longer than 14k white gold, which means that it’s going to be brighter and whiter looking for a longer period of time.
Most 14k white gold jewelry is rhodium plated, this makes the jewelry item look whiter and brighter, but also slows down the oxidation process. But eventually the chemicals released by our skin, will break through the barrier created by the rhodium plating, and the 14k white gold will oxidize and begin to look a bit yellow. This is not necessary with 18k white gold, due to the lower percentage of other alloys that are mixed with the gold to make it more durable.
14k gold might be good enough, but 18k is better:
So maybe you’re beginning to see why Brian Gavin prefers to use 18k white gold, yellow gold, or rose gold, when making engagement rings like this halo setting. We could certainly make the ring in 14k gold, but to be perfectly honest the difference in cost is not that much. Hardly enough to be worth the potential hassle in our opinion, who wants to deal with the possibility of allergic reactions to one’s engagement ring? 18k white gold, or platinum is definitely the way to go!
Another reason why we prefer 18k white, yellow or rose gold, is because it simply looks richer in appearance. The higher gold content creates a more luxurious feel and 18k jewelry simply looks more spectacular in a way which I’m not really sure how to put into words… but it just looks and feels, well, richer and more luxurious, it has a deeper luster if that makes sense. So while 14k gold might be perfectly fine, we really think that 18k gold is the way to go.
