ring in blue gold
To date, blue gold has not been able to establish itself on the jewelry market because it has not yet been possible to produce a gold alloy with a beautiful and even blue color that is also suitable for processing into jewelry. However, there have already been numerous attempts and experiments to make blue gold suitable for jewelry. There are also several patent applications for blue gold alloys.
Blaugold and its History
The oldest source that mentions blue gold comes from the French lexicon Plomteux from 1788.
The exact composition of a blue gold alloy was recorded in a reference work from 1855 by the authors C.-D. Gardissal and F. Tolhausen. The recipe is: 75% fine gold and 25% iron make blue gold.
In the 1960s, the color of blue gold was mostly only created superficially. The disadvantage of this method is that the color created in this way wears off over time and the jewelry takes on a spotty appearance.
Solid alloys of blue gold can be produced, for example, by combining pure gold and indium or pure gold and gallium. However, both methods have the disadvantage that their shades of blue are neither particularly beautiful nor particularly easy to work with.
In 1985 and 1995, Vittorio Antoniazzi, who had emigrated to Argentina, patented blue gold alloys that he had developed. One of them consists of pure gold, nickel, chromium, molybdenum, vanadium, carbon, tungsten and iron. The bluish color of the alloy is intensified by strong heating.
In 1991, the Geneva jeweler Ludwig Muller filed a patent for another process. Here too, starting alloys – this time made of gold, iron and nickel – are coloured to blue gold using very high temperatures. The inventor has been using this material to make jewellery himself ever since.
There are also coins made of this blue gold that were produced by the Monnaie de Paris to mark the 50th anniversary of the European flag.
jewelry collections
Alloys in the Lexicon
Gold mining
