Choosing a finish: silver tone or gold

Where the colour comes from

Gold is yellow for a reason that goes right down to the atom. GIA explains that its hue comes from its atomic structure and the way electrons move within it, which makes the metal reflect light selectively from part of the spectrum. Silver, platinum and rhodium don't do this, and look white.

That is the one part of the choice that physics makes for you. Everything else, the alloy, the plating, the polish or the texture, is decided by a jeweller, and it is those decisions that make the difference between a piece that looks the same in ten years and one that changes as you wear it.

Silver tone and gold tone

"Silver tone" and "gold tone" describe how a piece looks, not what it is made of. In the UK this matters: the Assay Offices' guidance says that words like "gold" and "silver" used only to describe colour must make that clear, and gives "gold tone" and "gold coloured" as examples. So a silver tone piece might be solid silver, or it might contain no precious metal at all.

Here are the usual ways each colour is made.

For more on each of these, see What rhodium plating is, What is gold vermeil? and Vermeil vs gold plated vs solid gold.

Polished, brushed or matte

The second choice is texture. GIA lists the main options simply: a bright polish, a flatter matte look, or a textured surface. In practice you will meet three names most often.

• High polish. The metal is smoothed in stages with finer and finer polishing compounds until it shines like a mirror. It is the brightest finish, and the one that shows the most.
• Brushed, or satin. An abrasive is drawn across the surface to leave fine lines and a soft sheen rather than a reflection.
• Matte. A flat, non-reflective surface, often made by blasting fine particles at the metal, and sometimes by etching it with chemicals.

Texture changes colour, too, or at least how you see it. A mirror polish throws back the light around it, while a matte surface shows more of the metal's own colour, a little softer and quieter.

How each finish shows wear

Every finish changes as you wear it. The question is how, and whether you will mind.

There is a nice trade here. A plated finish is the one where you most want to avoid polishing, because polishing removes metal, and GIA warns that abrasives can erode it. A brushed or matte surface asks for less polishing in the first place. So a textured finish on a plated piece is a sensible pairing.

Mixing metals

The old idea that gold and silver shouldn't be worn together has largely gone. GIA's own stacking guide suggests combining yellow, white and rose gold, and pairing a polished band with a hammered or matte one for contrast. Mixing textures works the same way: a brushed piece beside a polished one makes both look more deliberate.

A few things help a mixed look hang together:

• Repeat each colour. Two or three touches of each metal look chosen; a single odd one out can look like an accident.
• Use a bridge. A piece that already combines both colours ties the rest together.
• Mind the wear. GIA notes that stacking rings can increase scratches and wear, and that a softer metal, such as 14 carat gold, can wear down faster next to a harder one, such as platinum. A plated ring stacked against a solid one will feel that most.

Warm skin, cool skin?

You will often read that people with "warm" skin tones should wear gold and those with "cool" skin tones should wear silver, usually with a test involving the colour of the veins on your wrist. It is a styling convention, and a widely repeated one, but it is not a finding. We could not find any study that tests it, and the sources that teach it are style guides rather than research.

That doesn't make it useless. It is one way of thinking about contrast and harmony, and some people find it helpful. But it is not a rule, and nobody is barred from a metal by the colour of their veins.

A more reliable test is simple. Hold a silver piece and a gold piece against your skin in daylight, in a mirror, and see which you keep looking at. Then look at what you already wear every day. If most of it is one colour, that is the one that will be easiest to mix with. If it is both, you have your answer already.

A choice that is yours

Gold's colour is settled by its electrons. Almost nothing else about a finish is. Polished or matte, white or yellow, one metal or several: the choice is about how you want a piece to look on the day you buy it, and how you would like it to look after a year of wearing it. Choose for both, and you will rarely go wrong.