Several materials are used to design ornaments. Initially, copper ornaments were used in ancient civilizations. Then bronze and brass jewelry became popular. With the discovery of gold and silver, designing and wearing jewelry became an expensive affair. Yet the charm for ornamentation continued to grow. In addition to gold and silver, pearls, platinum, and diamonds are also popular materials used in jewelry design. That said, gold continues to remain the sought after material for ornaments. Fascination for gold jewelry has only grown over the centuries.

That said, we all know that gold prices are touching the sky. This makes it impossible for the salaried or worker class to afford ornaments made of pure gold. In order to reduce the cost of gold ornaments, a small amount of a less precious metal such as copper or silver is alloyed with gold to make ornaments.

The amount of gold that is found in an alloy of gold with another metal is called the carat of the alloy. If you go to any jewelry store, you will find a rating for the carat against each ornament. If it is pure gold, then the rating is 24 carat. On the other hand, 18 carat means that the ornament is 75% gold and 25% of another, less-valuable metal.

It is very difficult to make 24 carat gold ornaments because gold is a malleable but weak material. Because of its low tensile strength, small pieces can chip off from an ornament made out of pure gold. Only gold biscuits or coins made of almost pure gold are available for buyers. Other than these, you will have to choose from the alloyed gold jewelry.

If you are not one of those people who can expend a fortune on gold jewelry, don't be dismayed. There are a variety of ways to buy jewelry that looks just as good, often better, than 22 carat jewelry. One way to do this is to buy semi precious jewelry that combines semi precious stones like sapphires, rubies, and emeralds with 14k jewelry.

You may also go for silver jewelry that has been plated with gold. This looks similar to jewelry made from gold. If the quality of gold plating or polish is good, it becomes extremely difficult to tell the difference with the naked eye.