Divya Mishra December 23, 2022
Varieties of metals are available in the jewellery market. Starting from affordable alloys, such as brass, expensive rhodium, platinum, and gold jewellery, different jewellery incurs different price ranges. Depending upon the requirement consumers can select amongst expensive and luxury fine jewellery or affordable and imitation jewellery. The market for artificial and customized jewellery has emerged and flourished in recent times. New trends have furthermore emerged within the artificial jewellery industry, which introduces new collections to the market. In this article, we will be discussing the latest trends for metal use in the jewellery market.
Silver Jewellery
CZ imitation jewellery as well as different traditional jewellery are often made with different kinds of silver metals. Silver, precious metal is often classified as the "Metal of Antiquity". It was around since pre-historic times. It was primarily used for the manufacture of coins, however, as time passed it became exceedingly popular in the manufacture of different kinds of jewellery. Furthermore, it is also used for Indian jewellery such as Kundan jewellery, meenakari jewellery, etc. The different trends followed in using silver for manufacturing jewellery, have been discussed here.
- Sterling Silver: Sterling silver jewellery is gaining a lot of popularity in the current times. It is a popular silver alloy, which is 92.5% silver and 7.5% copper. Sterling silver is easy to work with and hence is liked by jewellers. Furthermore, it increased the affordability of silver jewellery massively. It is marked a .925. It is long-lasting, lightweight, and not prone to being tarnished.
- Fine Silver: It is deemed to be the most valuable kind of silver jewellery. It is marked as 999 or FS, as it is made with 99% pure silver. It is highly malleable and hence not used exceedingly for the manufacturing of jewellery.
- Brittania Silver: Another form of silver metal that is trend-making is Britannia silver popularly known as British silver. Brittania silver has a high silver content, which is almost equal to 95.8%. The remaining metal found within the alloy is copper, which amounts to 4.2%.
- Argentium Silver: It is a relatively modernized form of silver alloy which is being used in manufacturing silver jewellery. It contains 93.5% silver, a combination of 5.5% of Copper, and 1% of metalloid germanium. It is preferred by jewellers and consumers due to its high tarnish resistance.
Alloy Jewellery
Jewellery made with alloys is essentially used for manufacturing artificial jewellery. Here we have discussed the different alloy metals used for manufacturing jewellery.
Gold Alloy: Pure gold is extremely fragile. Hence, it is mixed with different metals to create alloys. For instance, the most common type of yellow gold alloy is the one made with zinc and silver. It is used for the manufacture of Kundan Jewellery, such as Kundan Rings, Kundan Earrings, Kundan Necklaces, Kundan Nose rings, Kundan bracelets, etc. Jewellery made with yellow gold alloy is strong and comparatively affordable.
Coloured Gold Alloy: It is the other type of modern gold alloy which is used for manufacturing meenakari jewellery of all kinds. It is also used for manufacturing ethnic and traditional jewellery. Meenakari jewellery such as Meenakari Rings, Meenakari Necklace, Meenakari Earrings, Meenakari Nose Ring, etc., used coloured gold alloys, which accentuates the look and price exceedingly. Depending upon the variation of other metals the colour of the gold will differ. For instance, white gold has a massive concentration of nickel. When the copper alloy is added to the molten it gives a rose gold colour. Rose gold and white gold jewellery are in massive demand.
Copper Alloy: Brass and Bronze are made with the aid of copper. The base metal is used for manufacturing heavy pieces of jewellery. Artificial Kundan jewellery, such as Kundan Bangles, or meenakari jewellery such as meenakari bangles or meenakari bracelet, all use copper alloys.
Brass Alloy: Brass is a reddish alloy that is made using a combination of copper and zinc. Red brass can be produced if the percentage of copper is 85% and the percentage of zinc is 15%. If you want a more yellowish brass, the percentage of copper should be decreased to 67% and the percentage of zinc should be 33%. It is inexpensive and highly attractive. Hence it is widely used in the artificial jewellery industry. Due to the gold-tone or the variability in tone, ranging from reddish gold to copper-gold, it is used for manufacturing different kinds of traditional and modern jewellery.
Bronze Alloy: It is an alloy that is made by mixing copper and tin. It is a warm-toned metal that has a brown hue. Bronze items are primarily made thicker to avoid breakage. It is mixed with pure gold to make more durable and less expensive jewellery.
Layered Metals
It is the best alternative to gold alloys. It primarily comprises gold as a core metal and other metals those are utilized in equal quantities.
- Gold Filled: Two or three layers of gold-filled jewellery. The core metal which is used here is 10% zinc, while 90% of copper is mixed with the same. Single-clad is used for gold layering.
- Rolled Gold: It is used for making accessories such as watches. Rolled gold is fused with sheets of gold using a brass core which is used for making rolled gold.
- Gold Plated: It has the least amount of gold out of all the other forms of gold, including rolled gold or gold filled. The gold-plated jewellery use approximately 0.05% gold. It is in massive demand due to its affordable price. It is used for making gold imitation jewellery.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What are the different kinds of alloy used for making artificial Kundan jewellery?
For making artificial Kundan bangles, Kundan bracelets, and other jewellery, we use brass, bronze, gold plated copper metals.
- Which silver jewellery is the most affordable?
Sterling silver jewellery is the most affordable due to the high tarnish resistance, less purchasing price, and the percentage of copper added to them.