THE NOBLE KING AND HIS BEAUTIFUL QUEEN


Gold and silver have long been esteemed as the king and queen of metals, for good reason. No other members of the mineral family surpass these two metals in nobility.

A noble metal is one that is doesn't oxidize or corrode easily. Gold is the most noble of all metals. It is resistant to air, water, salt, and most acids. Heat does not destroy gold, allowing it to be melted and remelted. Nearly all the gold ever mined is still in existence today, in one form or another. Silver is second only to gold in its nobility.

Metal that can be hammered into thin sheets without crumbling or breaking is called malleable. Ductile metals may be stretched under pressure into thin wires without breaking. Gold is the most malleable and ductile of all metals, silver the second. Gold can be pounded into sheets less than four millionths of an inch thick. An ounce of gold can be drawn into a wire more than 40 miles long.

Malleable and ductile metals are soft and easy to work with. Gold and silver in their pure states, however, are too soft for making objects that will last. Therefore, other metals are frequently combined (alloyed) with both gold and silver to make them harder.

Silver alloys usually retain their silver color. The color of gold varies with the kind and amount of other metals combined with it. Red golds contain silver, copper, and zinc. Rose gold contains no zinc. Yellow golds contain more silver and less copper than red golds. Green golds may contain cadmium and zinc. Adding iron to an alloy produces blue gold.

White gold was formerly an alloy of gold and silver, which tarnished. White gold today is usually a gold and nickel alloy. It may also contain palladium, manganese, or tin, and does not tarnish. Nu-gold, Merlin's Gold, and jewelers' bronze are alloys of copper and zinc. They contain no gold.

Fineness is a measure of the purity of gold or silver. Fineness in gold is usually specified by a karat rating; in silver, it is expressed as a percentage.

Karats are based on the number 24. The rating is a fraction, with 24 always as the denominator (bottom number). The amount of gold is the numerator (top number). Pure gold is 24/24th gold. We traditionally drop the bottom number, so that pure gold, or 100%

The copyright of the article THE NOBLE KING AND HIS BEAUTIFUL QUEEN in Gems & Minerals is owned by Sandra I. Smith. Permission to republish THE NOBLE KING AND HIS BEAUTIFUL QUEEN in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

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