The Color of Gold

Pedzola

Gold coins come in all different shades. I'm always interested to read the descriptive language used to describe color on dealer websites and auction listings.

Some are pretty straightforward e.g., yellow, orange. Others evoke food or other senses e.g., honey, lemon, rose. And there are all sorts of other commonly used but maybe not commonly defined descriptive terms - glowing!

Is there any kind of common reference or definition to describe coin color? If not, should there be? Pictures will always be more descriptive than words, but digital images will show differently depending on the viewer's screen. I wonder if it would be beneficial to create some kind of color reference.

What are your favorite descriptive terms for color vs those that are... less helpful?

Namvet69

Rose, honey, amber are gold hues I find attractive. Nice coins. Peace Roy

ricko

Pure gold is the standard. After that, any alloy material will affect color. That is why there is - for example - rose gold or white gold. They are alloyed with copper, silver and maybe some zinc.... Then, the amount of alloy will also affect the shade of color. So attempting any sort of standard color guide would not be helpful. Also, a gold alloy, such as copper, can make a gold coin appear to tarnish... Gold does not tarnish - but copper and silver will. Cheers, RickO

Pedzola

Found this.

ricko

@Pedzola... That is interesting.... Thanks for posting that chart. Cheers, RickO

justindan

@Pedzola that's an awesome reference. Thanks.

jesbroken

I have never heard of this color but I pick it from my gold color chart. Beautiful match, at least on my monitor.
Jim

1630Boston

Found this info on another site by RWB
.
.
1630Boston, member on another forum, posted “Please tell me what causes the difference in the color of Gold Coins.” This was based on an 1887 letter in the NNP US Mint files and transcribed by NNP. Another member posted a link to a web site that was presented as answering the question.

First, collectors should understand that multiple factors affect the original color of US gold coins, Second, after about 1847 all U.S. gold coins were made from refined metal of 0.999 fine. Third, objective evaluation of coin color requires attention to detail and neutral viewing conditions. Always evaluate the color of a coin under standard daylight and 18% gray backgrounds. All uncontrolled light must be blocked, otherwise the color your eye perceives will be inaccurate.

Pedzola

Boston, fantastic info thanks for sharing!

When I started the thread what I had in mind was not so much metallurgy but the colorful language that is used to describe coins.

When I see food-related words in particular it grabs my attention and gives another dimension to the description. Am I more likely to buy a champagne-gold coin vs a greenish-yellow-gold coin? I don't know, but it makes it more fun.

lilolme

Found this website and searched down to gold color and shade names.
So some names for gold colors but who knows these colors?

http://gold.colorcode.is

Home page
http://colorcode.is/

Similar Colors by Name
Aztec Gold
Gold (metallic)
Gold (web) (Golden)
Gold Fusion
Harvest gold
Heart Gold
Old gold
Pale gold
Rose gold
Satin sheen gold
UCLA Gold
University of California Gold
USC Gold
Vegas gold
Metallic gold

Similar Colors by Distance
Gold (web) (Golden)
Golden
School bus yellow
Cyber yellow
Yellow (NCS)
Sizzling Sunrise
Golden yellow
Yellow (Pantone)
Yellow (Munsell)
Tangerine yellow
USC Gold
Safety yellow
Vivid yellow
Jonquil
Banana yellow
Deep lemon
Citrine
Peridot
Gargoyle Gas
Titanium yellow
Middle Yellow
Mikado yellow
Golden poppy
Dandelion
Sunglow
Aureolin
Mustard
Amber
Fluorescent orange
Canary yellow
Yellow (process)
Sandstorm
Yellow rose
Saffron
Naples yellow
Royal yellow
Stil de grain yellow
Minion Yellow
Selective yellow
Yellow (RYB)
Cadmium yellow
Maximum Yellow
Electric yellow
Lemon
Yellow Sunshine
Daffodil

lilolme

Just in case there is anybody else like me who can't remember how to read those triangle charts in there head. Here is one with the lines and the chart numbers going in the same direction as the one above.

So if at 60% gold move horizontally to first intersection and you have 10% silver and 30% copper.
At 40% gold move horizontally to first intersection and you have again 10% silver and 50% copper.

asheland

I love the variety of colors that are seen...

jwitten

yosclimber

@lilolme said:
Just in case there is anybody else like me who can't remember how to read those triangle charts in there head. Here is one with the lines and the chart numbers going in the same direction as the one above.

So if at 60% gold move horizontally to first intersection and you have 10% silver and 30% copper.
At 40% gold move horizontally to first intersection and you have again 10% silver and 50% copper.

Another way to think about it is a plane in 3 dimensions (AU, AG, CU).
This plane contains all the points which add to 100%.

If it was only 2 dimensions (say AU, CU), it would be a downhill diagonal line with all the pairs of AU,CU that add to 100%.

In Econ this line, plane or hyperplane is the budget constraint, where the % or $ of income spent on all the different goods adds to 100%.

lilolme

@yosclimber said:

@lilolme said:
Just in case there is anybody else like me who can't remember how to read those triangle charts in there head. Here is one with the lines and the chart numbers going in the same direction as the one above.

So if at 60% gold move horizontally to first intersection and you have 10% silver and 30% copper.
At 40% gold move horizontally to first intersection and you have again 10% silver and 50% copper.

Another way to think about it is a plane in 3 dimensions (AU, AG, CU).
This plane contains all the points which add to 100%.

If it was only 2 dimensions (say AU, CU), it would be a downhill diagonal line with all the pairs of AU,CU that add to 100%.

In Econ this line, plane or hyperplane is the budget constraint, where the % or $ of income spent on all the different goods adds to 100%.

Yes. What I do in my head is to look for where zero is for the applicable side. In this case zero for the gold is at the bottom. So the axis for that right side or for gold is horizontal across as that is the line that keeps the zero value. It works the same for the other sides. So if 50% gold move away from that point on that side on a horizontal line (the axis line or zero line) as that line keeps the 50% value constant.

If the values are the opposite direction and say the right side or gold side was zero at the top and 100% at the bottom, then the axis for the right side or gold side would be lines parallel to the left side of the triangle as that keeps the zero value zero (and similarly for the other values). So if at 50% for gold would move away from that line on a line parallel to the left side of the triangle or the zero line / axis line.

I think I typed all that correctly but really should double check a chart.

CoffeeTime

Golden honey comes to mind for a good description. Most can relate to that

coinsarefun

Outstanding, just outstanding……..everyone’s is!

SilverEagle1974

It'd be cool if someone ran to Home Depot & grabbed a color palette in the Paint Section.

Chris