When one thinks of gold one automatically imagines a yellow metal. However, there is also a pinkish-purple type of gold, popularly known as amethyst gold or violet gold. This purple-coloured gold is an alloy of gold and aluminium. Its chemical nomenclature is AuAl2 and its composition is about 75% pure gold and 20% aluminium. The purple gold is brittle and fragile. A few companies use it sparingly in their jewellery pieces. Recently, a popular YouTuber, who goes by the username NileRed, shared a video in which he documented the difficult process of making clear purple-pink gold. This video has gathered over 97 lakhs since it was posted on December 23.
While sharing this process in a 53-minute video, NileRed wrote, “A few years ago I stumbled onto something called purple gold and I really wanted to buy a pure purple gold ring. However, I was devastated when I found out that it didn’t exist…so I decided to try and make one myself."
In the video NileRed mentions that Lee Hwa Jewellery, one of Singapore’s largest fine jewellers, is one of the very few jewellers that makes purple gold. Lee Hwa Jewellery has been making purple gold since 2000 after buying patent rights of the purple gold ‘recipe’ from a professor of metallurgy at Singapore Polytechnic. YouTube managed to get this patent and followed it closely. He follows the instructions mentioned in the patent and makes a sleek ring made out of purple gold. The chemist enthusiast manages this incredible feat despite having limited resources and his improvisation skills, coupled with the knowledge of chemistry.
Commenting on his video, a YouTube user wrote, “I’m a jewellery maker, and I just watched this whole video utterly fascinated. The chemistry, the complexity of casting metal, and the artistry, all combined into an absolute thriller. When I studied jewellery making, I never got to cast gold for budget reasons, and I only know in theory how gold can be dissolved in aqua regia, and I’m just mind blown right now."
Another appreciably mentioned, “This is some Top-tier content. Honestly, I enjoyed every minute of your video. I’m a Computer engineer, but after watching your video, I thought that Chemical engineering was not so bad after all. I might even try to do some experiments for fun. Awesome NileRed. Bravo."
In his YouTube bio, NileRed mentions that he has a “BSc in Biochemistry, with a minor in pharmacology." He now works full time on his YouTube channel which has 5.8 million subscribers.
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