Precious Metals...

We use precious metals in the fabrication of our jewelry - it is the medium of our choice. We cut, bend, stretch, draw, roll, texture, twist, forge, dap, planish, solder, pickle, anneal, harden, grind, debur, burnish and polish it...whew!
Below is a description of the various metals and alloys.

Sterling Silver:

Sterling silver is an alloy of 92?% Silver (.925) and 7?% (.075) of a base metal - usually copper.

Pure silver is almost perfectly white, very ductile and malleable. It is considered too soft for jewelry or flatware use, therefore the addition of small amounts of a base metal serve to harden the alloy.

Gold, 14KT:

Gold is the most malleable and ductile of all metals. It can be hammered into sheets less than 1/300,000 of an inch, and one ounce can be drawn into a wire 35 miles long.

For most jewelry fine (pure) gold is too soft to hold a shape. Other metals are added to create alloys of different qualities.

The karating system - in use since 1906 - is used to express the gold content of the alloy. Where 24KT is pure gold or 24/24 parts gold. 12KT gold is 12/24 parts gold or 50% gold. The most common alloy used in the United States is 14KT (14/24 parts gold) or 58.3% gold.

Gold Filled:

Gold filled provides the color and lustre of solid karat gold while keeping costs down.

People often confuse Gold Filled with Gold Plate. Gold plate is a relatively thin coat of gold electro-plated over a base (non-precious) metal. Whereas, Gold Filled is made by mechanically bonding a much heavier layer of KT Gold over the base metal.