For many centuries gold was considered the ultimate metal to have as a commodity and for jewelry. If you were wealthy then the metal that would reflect that particular status was gold, and if you were of a poor class you couldn’t afford anything made out of gold and most certainly not jewelry. Kings, emperors, and rulers all wore a piece of jewelry whether it was a signet ring, or a medallion of some sort, most of the time it was made of gold.

It wasn’t until the 17th century when other metals such as silver, started to be introduced into the picture. Silver was beginning to be used in some jewelry, and even more heavily for silverware. During this time, the middle class people began to also start wearing gold jewelry. Since then, it has been pretty much that way. As time progressed and the introduction of more precious metals such as platinum was introduced, the interest for just having gold jewelry started to diminish.

One of the reasons for this is because in today’s economies, gold is very volatile and the price of it easily goes up or down. This type of volatility can cause people to not invest in any type of gold or gold jewelry especially if the price of it becomes too expensive.

Since the 1800s white jewelry began to be introduced more heavily to the public. Silver was already used for jewelry but newly discovered precious metals such as Platinum and palladium were becoming popular among the wealthy if they wanted to wear white colored jewelry. In the early 1900s white gold was introduced in order to give the middle class an opportunity to wear white jewelry also if they could not afford jewelry made of platinum or palladium.

In the late 20th century other metals began to be used heavily for ring making such as steel, titanium, and tungsten. Now in the 21st century jewelry has completely changed. More people, especially men are leaning towards more durability instead of just shine in a piece of jewelry such as a ring, which makes industrial metals like tungsten very popular for this reason.

So the question is what has happened to the gold ring? It is plain to see that gold rings of any kind are not as popular anymore as they were several years ago. This doesn’t take away from the fact that a gold ring, whether it’s for men or women, doesn’t look nice, but it is not the preferred metal used among people today. It isn’t that gold is not used at all because white gold is still very popular for ring making, but yellow gold is certainly not in style today.

Long gone are the days when a man or a woman just wore a simple yellow gold wedding ring when they got married. Since people want durability and a great look from their jewelry and not have to pay an arm and a leg for it, they would much rather go for industrial metals instead, which offer all three of these qualities.

Will the gold ring ever come back in popularity again? Maybe, due to the nature of where gold comes from. No matter how many man made metals are out there, the one thing that none of them can take from gold is that it is a natural metal which gives off a natural beauty and durability that no man made metal could ever produce. These aspects could one day make the traditional gold ring popular among the people again.

18k Yellow Gold Plated Sterling Silver Diamond-Accent and Ruby Flower Ring, Size 7

• Gemstones may have been treated to improve their appearance or durability and may require special care.
• The natural properties and composition of mined gemstones define the unique beauty of each piece. The image may show slight differences to the actual stone in color and texture.

List Price: $ 35.00

Price: $ 25.00

No comments »