Choosing the Right Gold Engagement Ring

Welcome back, reader! In this article we will explore the different options for your gold engagement ring and a brief explanation about the key differences in gold. A little about me: My name is Andrea and I have been working in the luxury jewelry industry for over 10 years. I currently work in a local jewelry store, Saxon’s Diamond Centers, in Harford County, MD that has been in the community for over 65 years. As a team at Saxon’s, we have over 200 years of combined experience and I will be sharing with you some of our tips, advice, and feedback through this blog. 

As you are shopping for an engagement ring, you’ll need to decide on color (yellow, rose, or white) and the quality / karat of the gold (10k, 14k, or 18k). Here is a simplified explanation about which gold option may suit your needs best! 

Let’s start with color! Gold jewelry comes in a variety of colors, but the most popular are yellow, white, and rose. Gold is a precious metal, and in its purest form, it’s yellow and very soft.  In fact, it’s too soft to make any kind of jewelry.  Gold has to be alloyed with other metals to make it more firm. As the Encyclopedia Britannica explains, “most gold used in jewelry is alloyed with silver, copper, and a little zinc to produce various shades of yellow gold or with nickel, copper, and zinc to produce white gold. The color of these gold alloys goes from yellow to white as the proportion of silver in them increases.” White gold is also commonly alloyed with platinum or palladium, to give it a white appearance, and make it hypoallergenic. Lastly, rose gold gets its soft pink color from the copper alloy. While it is interesting to know about metal alloys and how these alloys affect the appearance of gold, we recommend that you come into the store and try all three colors of gold on your hand and decide which appearance you like best. Do you like the richness of the yellow gold tone, the clean look of the white gold, or the softer and feminine tone of rose gold? All three are gorgeous in their own way!

Before working in jewelry professionally, I used to wonder, “Why isn’t more jewelry offered in 24k? Wouldn’t the purest form of gold be the best?” The short answer is no, 24k would not be the best because it is too soft and malleable. As we briefly reviewed above with the different metal colors, gold needs to be alloyed with other metals to make it sturdier. Here at Saxon’s Diamond Centers, most of the fine jewelry that we carry in the store is 14k or 18k, 14k being the most common. The amount of gold present in a piece of jewelry is stamped with its karat rating. 24k gold is 100% gold, 18k is 75% gold, 14k is 58.5% gold, and 10k is 41.7% gold. As gold is a rare and precious metal, the more gold present in the piece of jewelry will make the item more expensive (and more malleable). The majority of the gold engagement rings we carry are 14k, because it is a good price for our clients and firm enough to withstand regular wear. Some of our premium designers, however, choose to make their pieces exclusively with 18k gold, as this is a more fine quality.

Whether you choose 14k or 18k, just know that both are great options and equally beautiful. The same can be said for choosing yellow, white, or rose gold, as you get to choose what you like on your hand best. We are only a phone call or email away here at Saxon’s and we are committed to helping you find your perfect gold engagement ring!

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(1)  “Gold,” Written and fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica, Last Updated: Aug 21, 2023, accessed September 15th, 2023, https://www.britannica.com/science/gold-chemical-element/Properties-occurrences-and-uses