Piece of jewelry

Abstract

The invention relates to a piece of jewelry having a copper-containing gold alloy which consists of 75.0 to 75.2 wt.% gold, 16.5 to 17.0 wt.% copper, 3.1 to 7.1 wt.% silver, 1.2 to 3.2 wt.% palladium, and a remainder containing 0.5 to 2.5 wt.% zinc.

Description

[0001] The invention relates to a jewelry component, such as a piece of jewelry, in particular a ring-shaped piece of jewelry, a part of a piece of jewelry, or a semi-finished product for the manufacture of a piece of jewelry according to the preamble of claim 1, a jewelry alloy for manufacturing such a jewelry component, and a method for manufacturing the jewelry alloy. The jewelry component is made of a gold alloy with a copper content.

[0002] German patent DE60310555T2 discloses an alloy for the manufacture of watches, jewelry, and precious metal articles, which has a gold content of at least 75 wt.% and a copper content of at least 14 wt.%. Furthermore, it describes how a color ranging from red to pink to yellow can be achieved in such gold alloys, depending on the proportions of copper and silver.

[0003] The jewelry market has a demand for alloys that, beyond the well-known colored gold alloys, enable new color variations, especially in the production of gold jewelry, and are relatively inexpensive to produce.

[0004] JP2005082890A describes a gold alloy for accessories that exhibits a strong pink hue while maintaining good workability. In addition to the main gold component, the alloy contains 18 to 20% copper, 2 to 5% silver, 1.5 to 2.5% palladium, and 0.4 to 0.6% zinc. This alloy produces a pink-based color.

[0005] The object of the invention is to provide a new coloring for a generic jewelry body and to ensure good processability, such as in the continuous casting process.

[0006] This problem is solved by the jewelry body made of a copper-containing gold alloy with the features of claim 1. The gold alloy consists of at least 75.0 to a maximum of 75.2 wt.% gold, at least 16.5 to a maximum of 17.0 wt.% copper, at least 3.1 to a maximum of 7.1 wt.% silver, at least 1.2 to a maximum of 3.2 wt.% palladium, and a remainder comprising at least 0.5 to a maximum of 2.5 wt.% zinc, resulting in a jewelry body with a novel color that can be described as champagne-colored.

[0007] In a particularly advantageous embodiment, the alloy consists of at least 75.0 to a maximum of 75.2 wt.%, in particular 75.1 wt.% gold, 16.5 to 17.0 wt.% copper, 3.1 to 7.1 wt.% silver, 1.2 to 3.2 wt.% palladium, and a remainder comprising between 0.8 and 1.1 wt.% zinc. Such a composition allows for a particularly intense champagne color and ensures excellent workability of the gold-copper alloy.

[0008] Furthermore, the aforementioned problem is solved by a process in which the zinc content of the alloy is obtained at least partially by melting brass together with the other components. In this way, the zinc content of the melt can be produced particularly easily.

[0009] Advantageously, the brass melted in this process is formed from Cu63Zn37 brass, which makes it particularly easy to melt in the desired zinc content in an exact quantity.

[0010] After the appropriate melt has been prepared, it is advantageous to pour it by hand in order to be able to produce small or particularly delicate jewelry pieces in the champagne color.

[0011] Alternatively or additionally, the melt, especially in the case of larger quantities, can be fed into a continuous casting process in order to produce, for example, semi-finished products that can be used for later processing into jewelry, such as for the production of completely or partially champagne-colored jewelry rings.

[0012] The following is a preferred composition of the melt for producing the jewelry alloy and the jewelry body with a particularly radiant champagne color: Example:

[0013] 75,1 % by weight gold 15,1 wt% copper, 5,1 % silver by weight 2,2 wt.% Palladium 2,5 wt.% CuZn37 brass

Claims

1. Piece of jewelry made of a gold alloy containing copper, characterised in that the gold alloy consists of 75.0 to 75.2wt.% gold,16.5 to 17.0wt.% copper,3.1 to 7.1wt.% silver,1.2 to 3.2wt.% palladium and a residue which has 0.5 to 2.5 wt.% zinc in relation to the total composition.

2. Piece of jewelry according to claim 1, characterized in thatthe gold alloy consists of 75.0 to 75.2wt.% gold,16.5 to 17.0wt.% copper,3.1 to 7.1wt.% silver,1.2 to 3.2wt.% palladium and a residue which has 0.8 to 1.1 wt.% zinc in relation to the total composition.

3. Piece of jewelry according to claim 2, characterized in that the gold alloy consists of 75.1wt.% gold,16.5 to 17.0wt.% copper,3.1 to 7.1wt.% silver,1.2 to 3.2wt.% palladium and a residue which has 0.8 to 1.1 wt.% zinc in relation to the total composition.

4. Gold alloy containing copper according to any one of claims 1 to 3 for producing a piece of jewelry.

5. Method for producing the gold alloy containing copper according to claim 4, characterized in that the proportion of zinc is obtained by melting brass together with the remaining components.

6. Production method according to claim 5, characterized in that the brass is melted in the form CuZn37.

7. Production method according to claim 5 or 6, characterized in that the melt is poured by hand after being produced.

8. Production method according to claim 5 or 6, characterized in that the melt is supplied to a continuous casting method after being produced.