This beautiful 14k solitaire ring was made by Rosados Box. It features a 6mm morganite stone.
Gold can occasionally test positive for mercury and it may also test positive for cadmium. In previous decades, cadmium was used for a variety of purposes in fine jewelry and more recently in costume jewelry.
Rosados Box is a small, woman-owned, minority-owned business that manufactures jewelry in Chicago, IL. The company states that it uses recycled and — this is a big deal — re-purified gold to produce guilt-free jewelry.
How do you think it tested?
Reading on the metal band:
| Element of Interest | Parts per million (ppm) | Error Range |
|---|---|---|
| None Detected | ||
| Other Elements | ||
| Copper (Cu) | 108,707 | +/- 2,246 |
| Zinc (Zn) | 677 | +/- 42 |
| Titanium (Ti) | 313 | +/- 67 |
| Vanadium (V) | 203 | +/- 47 |
| Gold (Au) | 111,510 | +/- 3,143 |
| Silver (Ag) | 2,407 | +/- 87 |
| Indium (In) | 1,075 | +/- 42 |
All samples were tested in consumer goods TestAll mode using a Niton XL3t 700S for at least 30 seconds. Results are rounded to the nearest whole number. Note: The ring is smaller than the instrument scope, so all metal counts will be lower than if we had a larger sample of the metal. It is helpful to consider the metals in relation to other metals detected. In a rose gold ring of this karat gold will be the largest detected value followed by copper.
When we test a small item like this, our intention is not to quantify an absolute parts per million reading for each element. Rather, we are screening the item for indications of lead and other metals of concern. We took multiple readings along the band to confirm the results.
Test Summary:
The ring is non-detect for lead. Gold does not usually contain lead although costume jewelry can be high in lead.
The ring is non-detect for mercury, which is sometimes found in gold.
The ring is non-detect for cadmium, which is sometimes found in gold.
This ring scored perfect marks. It is non-detect for all of the elements we look for in gold. The company has several attractive ethical stances and states it uses gold that is recycled and re-purified. The company told us it performs casting in-house to avoid impurities and underkarating which may occur in products made by international manufacturers.
We are optimistic to see a jewelry brand using thoughtfully selected materials.
Here is a link to their store. We have no affiliate connection to them.
The item tested below federal lead restrictions for children’s products, which limits products intended for use by children 12 and under to 90-100 parts per million lead for coatings and substrates, respectively.
However, the item is not a new children’s product and is not subject to these regulations.
For those who are curious, the morganite in the ring is not a heavy metal concern. The elements in these stones are too light for this instrument to reliably detect and do not include lead. XRF testing on these stones typically detects the metal alloy that the stones are set in and not much else.
Although this ring is a good option, when it comes to gold jewelry on the market there can be variability between different products in this market, even by the same brand, based on factors such as supply chains that can change over time.
We would like to see jewelry brands publicly commit to sourcing and internally testing gold and other constituent metals to ensure they are consistently free from mercury and cadmium contaminants.
We are looking to purchase or test more examples of jewelry from this company as resources permit and will post the results when we do.
We Prefer:
Gold can be a challenging material. It can test positive for toxic metals but the amounts vary by age or brand. These toxic components are not visible to the naked eye. Unfortunately, most people cannot test their gold jewelry from home so the issue of gold contamination continues without much public awareness.
Mercury and cadmium are sometimes found in gold jewelry. Most of the cadmium detected in new gold jewelry samples is at trace amounts but some jewelry may test substantially higher if the manufacturer used cadmium for a particular purpose such as to improve malleability or to brighten the color of the metal.
Mercury is typically found at the trace level but may be detected at up to several thousand parts per million in gold. We have a post about mercury in gold to be published soon.
If you cannot have your jewelry tested for toxic metals or do not want to wear products with trace cadmium or trace mercury, you might want to choose another metal.
Newer sterling silver is usually negative for both cadmium and mercury. Cadmium has been used in older solders and in some other processes refining silver, so we cannot uniformly recommend vintage silver without testing more examples. You may prefer to wear unconventional metal jewelry, like stainless steel if you are not allergic to nickel.
Other Options:
Disclosure: These are Amazon affiliate links. By shopping for any item on Amazon starting with our links, you help support our business and testing.
Note: We primarily recommend sterling silver jewelry which is typically non-detect for elements of interest.
Rosados Box is not on Amazon. Their website is located here.
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Disclaimer: These items have not always been personally tested by us but are likely to be lead free or low lead and/or cadmium based on our research into the materials, discussions with manufacturers, and/or testing on similar products. We recommend items we would use ourselves.
We provide our XRF testing for general educational or informational use only, to help consumers identify low lead and lead-free products. We hereby disclaim any and all warranties, expressed or implied, and assume no duty or responsibility with respect to how any person or entity uses the information on this website.