Many metals are alloyed with nickel – alloying improves the properties of the base metal – for example increasing it’s hardness or strength. For example, gold rings made of more pure gold (eg 24 karat) are weaker, softer and easier to scratch and bend than (for example) 9 karat rings. However this alloying can come at a price if you are sensitive to one of the alloying metals. I aim for these pages to help you in your jewelry metal choices and to help you in the decision-making process. You will see, there are no obvious cut-and-dry simple answers when it comes to avoiding nickel in jewelry.
Your best friend is accurate information but that this can be difficult to come by. My personal recommendation is that you find a jeweler who you can trust and have them find you gold with zero nickel. Expect to pay more for accurate information – a jeweler who plays fast and loose with purities may not charge as much but you may end up paying the price twice over later on.
Comments welcome
I couldn’t find a good summary of metals information on the web but did see a lot of assumptions and heresay so I compiled these pages to aid my understanding and hopefully help you too. If you have any comments, additions or corrections, please feel free to contact me.
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