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[Source] Electrum metal

#1

Hi,

I’m looking for a good source that carries electrum metal. I have a
custom order from a client calling for 2 rings and they must be made
in this specific metal. I’ve looked online and have asked all my
jewelry friends, but no luck so far on where to buy it. Sheet metal
and perhaps wire too is what I’m looking for. Any tips would be
wonderful in finding this rare metal, thank you!

Ps - Per wikipedia… Electrum is a naturally occurring alloy of gold
and silver, but is sometimes found with trace amounts of copper,
platinum and other metals. It can be produced artificially. Its color
ranges from pale to bright yellow, depending on the proportions of
gold and silver. The gold content of naturally occurring electrum
ranges from 45% to 90%.

Thanks!
Jen Rose, Dark Heart Jewelry

#2 
I'm looking for a good source that carries electrum metal. I have
a custom order from a client calling for 2 rings and they must be
made in this specific metal.

As the later portion of your posts lays out, electrum is virtually
any naturally occuring alloy of gold and silver. But the world
"naturally" can be taken with a grain of salt if you’re trying to buy
the stuff. Just mix up your own, to whatever color you find pleasing.
Start with fine silver, add a bit of gold, and see if you like the
color. add more if you want more yellow, etc. Or start with gold and
add silver till it’s pale enough for you. Any alloy of only gold and
silver, without copper or other metals, will be soft and very
workable. Alloy your own as desired and make your own sheet and wire.

I expect you’ll have trouble finding any metals suppliers who stock
sheet and wire in this non-standard alloy which normally cannot be
stamped with a quality mark unless it happens to meet one of the
karat quality standards or has so little gold as to be within the
standard for sterling silver. That problem for quality marking
greatly limits such alloys use for any sort of commercial production.
You might, however, find a supplier who’d be willing to make some up
for you on a special order basis. Call around to your favorite
refiners/metals suppliers such as Hoover and Strong, United Precious
Metals, or David Fell, among many. Someone out there will have a
solution for you.

By the way, you should also be aware that the name, “electrum” is
also used incorrectly, to market silver jewelry that has been gold
plated. You may want to be sure that this meaning of the word is not
what your client wants. If it is, then make the jewelry in sterling
silver, and gold plate it…

Peter

#3

Hey Jen,

I asked that question about a year or so ago.

The only natural piece I saw was very tiny (it was an Egyptian
artefact), so chances are that you wont be able to get any natural
electrum without considerable cost.

However making an alloy simulating electrum, shouldn’t be too
difficult.

I first heard about electrum in a game, are your clients gamers,
SCA, or re-enactors?

Regards Charles A.

#4

Jen- I’ve done this before for a client that had to have Electrum. I
just made the alloy myself out of 1/2 pure gold and 1/2 pure silver.
It’s easy to cast or fabricate with. The color is a kind of funky
beige color. Not silver not gold.

Have fun and make lots of jewelry.
Jo Haemer
www.timothywgreen.com

#5

I made this same version of electrum. 50%fine silver, 50% fine gold.
In essence, 12k green gold… And it was a greenish, silvery color.
Of course, very workable.

Take care, Andy.

#6

If you can’t find a supplier, mixing the alloy yourself is possible.
I think that the naturally occuring alloy has a wide range of %, but
you need to make sure that you have at least 50% gold, or the alloy
will just look like silver, while costing a lot more! If you look on
the wikipedia entry for “colored gold” you can see a colour diagram
for gold/silver/copper alloys.

Jamie Hall
http://primitive.ganoksin.com