FAQ Jewelry

18 Karat means that 18 out of 24 parts of a gold alloy are gold. This is equivalent to 75% or 750 parts per 1000. Hence 18 Karat may also be shown as 750, or Au750, Au being the chemical symbol for Aurum, or gold. An alloy’s remaining 25% may be composed of various metals. If these are copper and silver, the resulting 18 Karat gold color is yellow, whereby a mixture of more copper and less silver produces red gold. If nickel, palladium, copper and zinc are added, the resulting gold color is white. 18 Karat gold is popular in fine jewelry and in Swiss watches as it is harder and more durable than fine gold.

Some countries require that objects of precious metals be struck with a Hallmark, which makes the Hallmark’s owner accountable for the exact alloy, say Au750, or 18 Kt gold.

Under Swiss law Hallmarks are registered with and supervised by the state’s Precious Metal Control. Inaccuracies result in heavy penalties and bans. The Hallmark of CADEAUX JEWELRY is registered in Switzerland under No. 7949, and by striking it into every piece, CADEAUX JEWELRY guarantees the gold content as indicated on each piece of jewelry.

Pictured: CADEAUX JEWELRY inner ring band with registered Hallmark (symbolizing the 2Prong setting) and the 750 mark to indicate a gold alloy of Au750, or 18 Kt.

Nickel is a common metal and often used in industrial production, including in certain white gold alloys, but also in belt buckles, spectacle frames, costume jewelry, coins, buttons and batteries. Most people are sensitive to Nickel. Many expereince contact-reactions when skin comes in contact with Nickel, such as itching, skin irritations, even exzema. About 10% of people suffer Nickel allergies. As a rule, symptoms will disappear when Nickel is removed from the skin or when treated by a doctor.
BAECHTOLD LIMITED and its trade partners, in particular CADEAUX JEWELRY try to avoid alloys or products with Nickel components. Instead, Palladium or Silver are used as Nickel substitutes, but because of their higher value the cost of such product tends to be higher.

Metals, like all materials, whether solid, fluid or gas, have a specific gravity or density, meaning a fixed volume of one metal has a different weight than another. While the specific gravity of platinum is 21.45, gold is 19.5, silver 10.5, titanium 4.55 aluminium 2.7, and water 1.0. This means that if the same form and volume of an object is made of different metals or materials, its weight will change. The same object in platinum will be heavier than in gold, the same gold object will be heavier than in silver, and so on. The specific gravity of different materials is the reason why objects of different materials float or sink in different mediums.