I recently received a ring made by Niessing (stamped 750) for sizing
in my shop. The customer brought in the original receipt which stated
that the ring was made of “gray gold”. I know that the 750 is 18K but
I am not familiar with this alloy and was wondering if anyone could
shed some light on working with this material. that is, sizing and
soldering gray gold.
Thanks for the help!
Metro
Grey gold is either palladium or platinum alloyed with the gold.
Niessing is renowned for the colors of the alloys they use and the
solders used to join them. If it were me I would contact Niessing and
have them do the repair as matching their alloy color could be quite
tricky.
James Binnion
James Binnion Metal Arts
To give you an idea how good Niessing is with alloy color and solder
check out
This is the most recent version of the Niessing Aura rings that
smoothly gradate from one color of gold to another almost appearing
as if it was airbrushed. It is my understanding that they accomplish
this with a series of alloys and solders each with a slightly
different hue. Some of these rings have as many as twenty solder
joints to achieve this appearance is what I have heard but it is a
closely held process. You will notice that the copy on the website
refers to the “saintly patience” of their goldsmiths.
James Binnion
James Binnion Metal Arts
Hi Metro & All, Here is the website for Niessing–
Niessing - Trauringe, Verlobungsringe, Spannringe, When I have had questions like
this I contact them directly. They know what their alloy mix is…
Ciao from vercast SF,CA
Jo-Ann Maggiora Donivan
Web search on Niessing reveals it is a German Company with a few
stores in the US (one even near me so I’m going to go check them
out). You may be able to get a company contact from a dealer for
advice. They may prefer resizing themselves to protect the
uniqueness of their design.
Hello,
grey gold is also manufactured with gold in addition with silver,
coppper and manganese according wikipedia. However, I do not now if
Niessing is using the same alloy as the one I mentioned above.
Have fun and enjoy
Pedro
thank you James for the info on the rings and alloys,nice to visit
their sitein the 80’s Herman Younger was here New paltz giving a
lecture,he had his students work on the seamless gradation color of
alloys as part of the curriculum in Pforzhiem, i had seen a few of
these rings here in town at a German jeweler’s (Linde Meyer) store
around 12 years ago, and the gradation was amazing plus the forms and
colors, To the initial poster asking for help in sizing and color
match, I personally would contact/send it back to Niessing for the
sizing service/matching color, would not take that chance with a
customer’s piece Hratch
Niessing Gray Gold is a special proprietary alloy and sizing the ring
will leave a definite line as the solders do not match. One way to
over come this is by welding. I am assuming here that the ring is
sized down, you can take the piece you cut out and use it as fuel.
Hammer it thin, wedge it in between and then melt it into the seam.
After filing and sanding the repair should be invisible. Sizing up
will be a problem if it is outside the stretch range as you will need
gray sizing stock
Hope that helps
Jurgen