Minutiae History
Rings Earrings Pendants Crosses

Home Up

 

minutiae ~ Trivia

1

Pure Gold is referred to as 24 Karat.

 Karat is a traditional unit of measure based on the Carob seed of the Middle East. 

Thus 24 Carob seeds should weigh the same as 1 oz of Pure Gold in the old world.

2 Julius Scaliger in 1735  Italy isolated Platinum.  It's name platina (little silver) is Spanish due to the conquistadors panning for gold in the rivers of Central and Southern America.  They would find heavier than normal white nuggets of metal.  They considered them to be undeveloped silver and would throw them back into the water, till they could melt it.  Platinum melts at a higher temperature than Steel 1772�C 3222�F  
3

Gold Melts at 1064.58�C 1948.24�F   Silver melts at 961�C 1762�F

Iron (steel) 1535�C 2795�F

4 The development of white gold only occurred about 125 years ago. The alloy itself is called German Silver, Mock Platinum or White Brass, and is an alloy of 50 per cent copper, 30 per cent zinc and 20 per cent nickel.

Thus 6 parts German Silver plus 18 Parts Pure Gold will make 18 Karat White Gold.
5  
6  
7  
8  
9  
10  
   

 

Send mail to webmstr@bellchamber.net with questions or comments about this web site.
Copyright � 2005 Jason Bellchamber, London Ontario Canada
Last modified: 03/16/2007     Technical Implementation services by: Select Concepts Inc.