How To Identify Welsh Gold

Welsh Gold is known for being one of the rarest gold types in the world since the 19th century. It is famously known for being discovered by a local man named William Roberts, in one of Snowdonia’s abandoned gold mines (Dolgellau gold belt) in North Wales, now recognised as the Clogau St David’s gold mine.

At first, the idea William had was to reopen the mine and advertise it as a tourist attraction. However since it is right at the centre of a National Park, the idea was overturned. To make sure the rare gold didn’t go completely to waste, William decided to use tons of gold ore to make original and exclusive jewellery with the highest quality. Alba minerals, the UK’s largest company for gold production, owns around 90% interest in an exclusive exploration licence over Clogau - St David’s mine to make its Welsh Gold jewellery.

Welsh jewellery has such a special and unique touch. Even the British Royal family has invested in Welsh Gold for the Royal Wedding Ring, specifically from Clogau Gold. For example, gold wedding rings have been made for Royal brides and grooms such as; The Queen, Princess Diana, Princess Margaret, Prince Charles, Princess Anne, Catherine Middleton, Prince William and Prince Edward. When Prince Harry proposed to Meghan Markle, her wedding ring was also made using Cymru gold.

Sometimes it is difficult to differentiate between what is real and what is fake with items and their value. Maybe you have purchased a beautiful piece of jewellery that claims to contain Welsh gold recently and are uncertain about the authenticity of the piece. Or maybe you are thinking about buying jewellery that contains Welsh gold. Either way, here are 3 suggested ways to identify if something contains Welsh gold.

There isn’t a set number on how many carats welsh gold contains. However, a 24 carat Welsh gold piece of jewellery contains a higher amount of pure gold than a standard 18 carat gold piece of jewellery. Typically, this will be slightly noticeable and you will notice a rich and warm colour. 

Hallmarks are essentially a distinctive mark or symbol on a piece of jewellery that places official quality control on gold, silver and platinum. It acts as a safeguard for the consumer. This originates from the consumer protection law that was invented by King Edward I in the 13th century.

There are all different types of hallmarks, however, the Welsh Maiden trademark is internationally recognised for indicating authentic Welsh gold. Also, Clogau jewellery includes Welsh gold in each of their products, therefore they use the initials of their brand “CG” and a dragon stamp which is engraved on every piece. An item’s hallmark displays to customers that it has been tested by an independent body and guarantees the gold purity/standard of quality. Therefore, this is a definite way to reassure that a product contains Welsh gold.

This is not the most practical way of telling whether something contains Welsh gold, however, it is worth mentioning if you are someone who specialises in jewellery or pays good attention to detail. Many people have described Welsh gold to have a much deeper and rosier colour than other types of gold. This would be due to the traces of copper in the mine ore.

However, it would be difficult to differentiate between normal gold and Welsh gold using this as every type of gold jewellery has a yellow and rosy tone to it and even if the copper was separated from the pure gold, it would still have that gleaming yellow glow.

Since Roman times, mining companies have been located in South Wales and North Wales. However, since the 20th century, mines have been closed for a considerable amount of time. Therefore, there is a higher chance of there being a shortage of Welsh gold in the future, meaning value has now increased in this precious jewellery. It costs more to mine than other gold because there is much less gold per ton of ore. than anywhere else in the world. Wages are also higher in the UK than in many other countries where gold mining takes place.

As a result of this, Welsh gold holds up to 30 times more value than any other gold in the world. Using this information, you could pay a visit to your local jeweller to assess the value of your item to see whether it contains Welsh gold.

Hopefully, these 3 suggestions are useful for helping you identify Welsh gold. There isn’t a specific method on how to differentiate standard gold from Welsh gold. The first method seems to be the easiest and most effective since all you have to do is look at the item and find a dragon stamp or a Welsh maiden. The second method is more targeted towards professional jewellers who can tell the difference so this wouldn’t be helpful to a consumer. The third option to visit a local jewellers  is probably the best if you want to be 100% sure whether your product contains Cymru gold as they will be able to make a professional judgement.