Blue gold is a blue-colored gold made by mixing pure gold with other metals such as iridium, gallium or iron.
Blue is the rarest color of gold. Though blue gold made waves in jewelry circles around the mid-to-late-20th century, it has failed to sustain long-term popularity.
This guide covers the characteristics of blue gold, the different ways to create it, and the history of its use as a jewelry metal.
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What is Blue Gold?
The term blue gold refers to non-traditional gold alloys that range from light blue to azure to deep blue in color.
Blue gold comes in two main varieties: intermetallic and oxidized.
Intermetallic Blue Gold
An intermetallic compound is a special type of metallic alloy that’s rarely used in jewelry. Intermetallic blue gold is a mixture of gold with gallium or indium.
The standard gold-indium compound is 46% gold content (about 11 karats), while gold-gallium has higher gold purity at 58.5% (14 karats).
There are two major disadvantages to blue gold intermetallic compounds:
- Where most jewelry alloys are malleable and workable, intermetallics are brittle and fragile. This makes intermetallic blue gold difficult to work with, as it tends to break or shatter during the jewelry-making process.
- Their blue color isn’t very strong, often appearing as blue-tinted gray rather than true blue. Even gold-indium, the bluer of the two, can appear pale and gray depending on the light source.
For these reasons, plus a general lack of market awareness and demand, intermetallic blue gold is not used in jewelry.
Purple gold is another intermetallic. But unlike blue gold, its color is rich and bright. Thanks to this beautiful and marketable color, purple gold has found some minor success as a jewelry metal, while blue gold is still largely unknown.
Oxidized Blue Gold
In the jewelry industry, oxidation is the process of deliberately changing a metal’s surface color through the application of heat or chemicals.
Creating blue gold with this method requires a gold alloy that will oxidize blue when heated. Most such alloys contain iron and nickel.
Blue gold produced through oxidation has higher gold purity than intermetallic compounds. It also produces stronger blue hues.
However, the blue oxidized surface layer is thin, meaning that it will rub off over time unless you’re extremely careful while wearing it. This is especially true for rings, bracelets, and other jewelry items worn on the hands.
A Timeline of Blue Gold Jewelry
Pioneering Jewelers
Blue gold intermetallics have long been recognized as too grayish and brittle to be desirable jewelry metals. But the game changed with the discovery that certain gold alloys could be turned blue with oxidizing surface treatments.
One such blue gold pioneer was the mid-20th century Swiss jeweler Ludwig Muller, who invented and patented blue-oxidizing alloys of gold, iron, and nickel. Muller recommended gold content of between 75% to 85%, noting that the oxidized color became greenish-blue at 85%.
Another was the Argentinian goldsmith Vittorio Antoniazzi, who was active in the jewelry industry at around the same time as Muller. Antoniazzi’s blue gold patent calls for gold content between 80% to 88%, plus small amounts of nickel, chromium, molybdenum, vanadium, carbon, tungsten, and iron.
Muller and Antoniazzi were among the first to sell fine jewelry made from blue gold. Their creations included necklaces, earrings, rings, brooches, and other accessories. Surviving pieces are rare and highly collectible.
Brands Go Blue
The most successful jewelry product to feature blue gold is probably Patek Phillipe’s iconic Golden Ellipse watch, known for its signature 18k blue gold dial. First released in 1968, Golden Ellipse watches remain in production to this day.
According to former Patek employee Jean-Pierre Frattini, the blue gold dial may have been inspired by Muller, who was a hit in jewelry circles at the time for his ground-breaking blue gold creations.
A less successful instance came in 1988, when the Swiss company VA Blue Gold SA released a jewelry line made from blue gold alloy that contained ruthenium and rhodium. Despite having a strong blue color, it failed to make much market impact, and VA Blue Gold SA shut down several years later.
Where to Buy Blue Gold Jewelry
If you’re trying to obtain blue gold rings, earrings, necklaces, or other jewelry pieces, you’ll quickly discover that the options are few and far between.
Though colored gold alloys like white gold and rose gold have gained great prominence in the last decade or few, blue gold has yet to make its own leap from obscurity to a desirable jewelry metal.
At the time of writing and to our knowledge, no well-known brands currently produce items featuring blue gold except Patek Philippe and a handful of other luxury watchmakers such as Andersen Genève and Greubel Forsey.
If you’re looking for something with a slightly more forgiving price tag, then your best bet for authentic blue gold is to check out antique or estate jewelry stores.
One such vendor is Wilke’s Jewels, purveyor of an impressive collection of vintage Vittorio Antoniazzi pieces.
Another is Jewelry Authority, whose photo of a rare Ludwig Muller brooch made with greenish-blue gold is featured in this article.
Another Option
During your search for blue gold, you may find a few online stores selling non-vintage blue gold products. Buyer beware – these pieces very likely aren’t made with blue gold alloy. Read the fine print and you’ll probably find that the item is made from another color of gold and plated with blue rhodium.
This electroplated finish is achieved by adding blue coloring to a rhodium plating solution. The technique can produce beautiful blue hues, from light sky blue to saturated violet blue. Most black gold is produced in a similar way, using a black-colored rhodium finish.
The downside is that rhodium finishes aren’t permanent. And because the blue surface plating itself contains no gold, it functions like an exterior coat of paint rather than being an intrinsic quality of the metal.
FAQs About Blue Gold
Is blue gold rare?
Blue gold is the rarest type of gold color for jewelry. Apart from a few luxury watchmakers, modern brands don’t work with blue gold, and vintage pieces are hard to find.
Is blue gold real gold?
Blue gold is a real gold alloy made by combining gold with either iridium, gallium or iron. However, outside of antique and estate jewelry stores, most “blue gold” jewelry sold today is not made from genuine blue gold alloy.
Is blue gold expensive?
Since jewelry made from blue gold alloys is incredibly rare, it can be very expensive compared to jewelry made from more recognizable gold colors like yellow, white, and rose, and from other metals such as platinum and sterling silver.
How is blue gold made?
Intermetallic blue gold is made by combining gold with either indium or gallium. It has a lighter bluish hue than oxidized blue gold, which is created by alloying gold with iron and exposing it to high temperatures.
Are there any other blue metals?
Vanadium, osmium, tin, and several other white metals can be described as having a slight bluish tint, but no metal is truly blue in its natural state. Some metals, including titanium and niobium, can be turned blue through anodization (a finishing process that involves treating metals with an electric current).
We hope you enjoyed learning about blue gold! If you’d like to know about another unusual color of gold, then feel free to check out our green gold article next.
Cover image credit: WilkesJewels.com. Used with permission.