Green Gold
Also: Electrum, Green-tinted gold
Green gold is a gold alloy with a high silver content, which gives the metal a characteristic greenish-yellow tint.
Green gold is produced by alloying gold with a high proportion of silver — occasionally topped up with small amounts of copper or cadmium. The combination of these metals absorbs certain wavelengths of visible light more strongly than plain yellow gold, giving rise to the distinctive greenish shimmer. The current gold price provides the basis for valuing the fine-gold content it holds.
Composition and colour
The colour depends directly on the silver content: from about 15 % silver the yellow tone begins to fade and shifts towards green. Typical mixes for 18-karat green gold (750 gold) run to around 20–30 % silver, with the remainder being pure gold. Historically the term electrum was used for naturally occurring gold-silver alloys with 15–45 % silver — the first coins of antiquity, in Lydia around the 7th century BC, were made of it.
| Silver content | Colour effect |
|---|---|
| 5–10 % | Slightly paler yellow gold |
| 15–25 % | Distinctly greenish-yellow |
| 25–35 % | Pale green |
| > 40 % | Light grey-green (rare in jewellery) |
Cadmium as an additive intensifies the green considerably, but because of its toxicity it is largely banned in modern jewellery production.
Use in jewellery
Green gold appears above all in fine jewellery and designer pieces, where it is used as a contrast to red, white or yellow gold. Technically it works well — much like yellow gold — and can be soldered, drawn and stamped. The high silver content makes the alloy somewhat softer than red gold, which gains noticeably in hardness from its copper content.
You can work out the melt value quickly once weight and fineness are known; on a buy-back only the fine-gold content is paid for as well.
Distinguishing it from other gold colours
- Yellow gold – classic gold-silver-copper alloy, warmer in tone
- White gold – palladium or nickel alloy, cool and silvery
- Red gold / rose gold – high copper content, warm reddish tone
- Green gold – dominant silver content, cool yellow-green tone
In brief
Green gold is not an invention of modern jewellery designers but one of the oldest gold alloys in human history. Anyone wanting to value a piece of green gold should check the fineness hallmark and refer to the current gold price — the silver content adds weight but not gold value to the piece.