Choosing Your Precious Metals

Selecting the right precious metal is the foundational decision in the custom jewelry design process. The metal you choose dictates the structural integrity of your ring, determines how the piece will age over decades of daily wear, and directly influences the visual impact of your chosen gemstones.

18K gold consists of 75% pure gold mixed with 25% alloy metals like silver and copper, providing the ideal strength for daily wear while maintaining a rich, warm hue. While pure 24K gold is too soft for rings that endure daily impact, adding precise ratios of harder metals creates an alloy that secures diamonds and sapphires safely. We craft exclusively with high-quality metals that support the traditional Danish goldsmithing techniques we use every day in our central Copenhagen atelier.

Every metal has distinct working properties at the jeweler's bench.

18K Gold vs. 14K Gold: The Quality Standard

When comparing gold alloys, the karat number simply represents the ratio of pure gold to other metals. In Denmark, you will often see gold stamped with numbers like "750" or "585". These stamps denote the percentage of pure gold—750 parts per thousand for 18K, and 585 parts per thousand for 14K.

We choose to work primarily with 18K gold for custom commissions because it delivers the optimal balance of workability for the goldsmith and lasting beauty for the wearer. 14K gold contains a higher percentage of alloyed metals, which makes it slightly harder, but it sacrifices the deep, saturated color that makes fine jewelry so striking. The higher pure gold content in 18K gold resists tarnishing much better than lower karat alloys and provides a superior backdrop for high-quality, ethically sourced diamonds.

Here is a breakdown of how the most common fine jewelry metals compare in practical use.

Selecting White Metals: White Gold vs. Platinum

If your design calls for a silver-toned finish, the choice generally comes down to 18K white gold or platinum. Both provide a stunning, cool-toned setting that makes white diamonds appear exceptionally bright, but they behave very differently over time.

White gold is created by alloying pure yellow gold with white metals like palladium or silver. Because its base is inherently yellow, 18K white gold jewelry is typically finished with a microscopic layer of rhodium—a rare, brilliant white metal. Over months or years of wear, this plating slowly rubs off on the bottom of the band, revealing a slightly warmer, champagne-tinted white underneath. Maintaining that icy white finish requires bringing the ring back to the workshop for a quick clean and re-plating.

Platinum, by contrast, is a naturally white metal that never requires rhodium plating. It is extremely dense and heavy, giving the piece a substantial feel on the finger. However, platinum scratches differently than gold. When gold is scratched, a microscopic amount of metal is removed. When platinum is scratched, the metal simply displaces, creating a frosted "patina" finish over time.

"Across the custom engagement rings we crafted in our atelier during 2023, 85% of clients requesting a white metal selected 18K white gold over platinum due to its warmer aging process and lighter weight."

If you prefer a bright, polished finish and don't mind occasional maintenance, white gold is the standard. If you want a zero-maintenance metal and appreciate a slightly frosted, antique look as the ring ages, platinum is an excellent upgrade. You can learn about our goldsmithing techniques to understand how we manipulate these different materials at the bench.

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Redesigning Heirloom Jewelry: Reusing Your Gold

One of the most meaningful ways to source precious metal for a custom piece is by melting down inherited jewelry. Reusing your own gold carries the history of the original wearer directly into your new design.

When you bring family gold to our workshop, we evaluate it carefully before incorporating it into a new piece. Old chains, broken rings, and single earrings can all find new life, but the material must meet certain structural requirements to survive the melting and forging process.

We follow a specific sequence when assessing your inherited pieces for a redesign project.

1. Testing the karat weight. We verify the exact karat of your existing pieces. Mixing 14K and 18K gold in the crucible alters the final alloy, so we calculate the exact additions needed to bring the melted metal up to our 18K workshop standard.
2. Refining the alloy. Old gold often contains microscopic impurities, dirt, or brittle solder lines from previous repairs. We melt the gold at over 1,000 degrees Celsius and add specific fluxes to draw out impurities, ensuring the new casting is structurally sound.
3. Calculating material volume. A single thin gold chain rarely contains enough material to cast a solid engagement ring. We weigh your gold and determine exactly how much fresh 18K gold we need to add to complete your specific design.

Redesigning an inherited gold ring typically requires between 5 and 10 grams of your existing gold, depending on the volume of the new custom piece. If you have sentimental gold you wish to transform, you can explore our approach to jewelry design to see how we blend traditional craftsmanship with your personal story.

Matching Metal Colors with Precious Stones

The color of your chosen metal dramatically alters how a gemstone looks. The metal surrounding a stone acts as a reflector, bouncing its own color back up through the facets of the gem.

In our experience matching stones to settings, we notice clear patterns in how metals flatter specific gems. A rich 18K yellow gold bezel warms up a blue sapphire, pulling out its hidden green and teal undertones. Conversely, placing that same blue sapphire in bright white gold emphasizes its crisp, icy blue notes.

When selecting stones for your metal type, keep these visual interactions in mind.

• Ethically sourced white diamonds: Yellow gold settings add a slight warmth to the diamond, making it an excellent pairing for stones with a slightly lower color grade (G-H-I). White gold settings amplify the stark, icy nature of high-color diamonds (D-E-F).
• Tourmalines and Sapphires: Earthy greens, deep pinks, and rich blues typically sing when set in 18K yellow gold. The contrast between the warm metal and the cool-toned stones creates a striking, vintage-inspired aesthetic.

To see how these combinations look in finished pieces, you can view our completed custom rings and observe the interplay between metal tone and gemstone color.

Pricing Factors for Custom Metalwork

The cost of precious metal fluctuates daily on the global market, but the material cost is only one component of custom jewelry pricing. The true value lies in the hours of skilled craftsmanship required to file, solder, set, and polish the metal by hand.

When reviewing our commission records from January 2024, our clients typically invest between DKK 15,000 and DKK 50,000 for a custom engagement ring. In these pieces, the metal choice generally accounts for roughly 30% to 40% of the total cost, with the central gemstone and the bench labor making up the rest. Our ready-made pieces and simpler gold bands range from DKK 1,200 up to DKK 62,000+, reflecting the exact weight of the 18K gold used.

Because platinum requires significantly higher heat to melt and takes much longer to polish than gold, a platinum ring will always cost more in labor than the exact same design cast in 18K gold, even when the raw material prices are similar.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I mix different gold colors in one custom ring?

Yes, you can combine yellow, white, and rose gold in a single piece. We achieve this by crafting the individual components separately—such as a yellow gold band and a white gold setting—and soldering them together at the bench.

Does white gold turn yellow over time?

White gold does not turn completely yellow, but it will develop a warmer, champagne-colored tint as the microscopic rhodium plating wears off the high-friction areas of the ring. You can easily restore the bright white finish by having the ring replated every year or two.

How do I know if my old jewelry is 18K gold?

Look for a tiny stamp on the inside of the band or the clasp of the necklace. A stamp of "750" indicates 18K gold, "585" indicates 14K gold, and "333" indicates 8K gold. If the stamp is worn away, we can test the metal in our workshop using specialized acid solutions.

Is recycled gold as strong as newly mined gold?

Yes, gold degrades very little during the melting process. When we refine and re-alloy your old gold correctly, the resulting metal is structurally identical to newly mined gold and offers the exact same durability for daily wear.

When you finalize your metal choice, prioritize the color you naturally wear most often rather than focusing entirely on technical hardness—18K gold provides more than enough strength to last a lifetime.