The Italians have utilized gold for a long time. The Romans on the other hand created new ways of mining gold in large amounts by using hydraulic mining methods. They started utilizing these methods particularly in Spain since 25 BC. The Romans first used these methods in Romania in 150 AD. The biggest gold mine owned by the Romans was in Las Medulas in Len (Spain). This gold mine utilized seven long aqueducts that made it possible for the Romans to sluice most of the earth and sand deposit containing gold.
In Italy, the gold sector is huge and it significantly contributes to the country’s economy. Italy processes and uses approximately five hundred tons of fine gold every year in addition to copper and silver. More than forty thousand people are employed in the Italian gold industry.
The Italian gold sector has 10,000 organizations and quite a few of them operate in five main areas of Italy. The concentration of gold companies in these regions makes them famous gold areas all across the world. These regions are Campania, Lombardy, Piedmont, Veneto and Tuscany.
Italians are proud of their gold traditions. They keep their inherited methods and designs alive while keeping up to date with the modern style and demands. That is why there are a number of Goldsmith Design Institutions to teach the new generation.
Gold prices all around the world are experiencing a sharp and rather quick climb. Investors are investing in gold heavily all around the world. While consumers in the rest of the world are suffering the consumers in Italy are not suffering as much. It is because the Italian goldsmiths very cleverly began using lower gold content, employing new processes and techniques to improve quality and strength and using new metal bases. This all contributed to the manufacture of gold products that snuggle very easily into consumers’ pockets.
Pure or 24-karat gold is very soft and this is the reason why it is necessary to mix it with other metals when making jewelry. This alters the capabilities of gold such as ductility and hardness, color and melting point along with other properties. The alloys of gold with lower caratage like 10k, 14k, 18k or 22k have higher proportions of metals such as copper, silver, palladium and other base metals.
The metal used most often as a base metal is Copper and it yields a redder color. Old-fashioned and Russian jewelry contains 25% copper making eighteen-carat gold. This jewelry has a clearly different, but not strong copper tint that forms rose gold. The gold-copper alloy that is fourteen carats is close in color to some bronze alloys. These alloys can function well in the production of police badges and other types of badges.
The mixing of gold with iron ends up in the formation of blue gold and the blending of gold with aluminum results in the making of purple gold. This hardly ever happens except when making special forms of jewelry. It is more difficult to make jewelry from blue gold because of the brittle quality of this type of gold.
Gold alloys that are fourteen and eighteen carats with a mixture of silver always have a greenish-yellow appearance. The name of these alloys is green gold. It is possible to form white gold alloys by including nickel or palladium.
Italian made gold is a high quality precious metal with a world renowned reputation. For more information on purchasing Italian made gold bracelets click on the preceding link.