Yeh Same Set Hai?” Three Karats. Three Shades. One Problem Nobody Budgets For.

The retailer laid out three rings on the black velvet pad. One 9KT. One 14KT. One 18KT. Same design. Same order. Same customer.

Then the question: “Yeh same set hai?”

It was. But under the showcase light, it didn’t look like it. The 18KT was warm and saturated. The 14KT looked a shade flatter. The 9KT leaned slightly pink. Three pieces, three different yellows from one workshop, one order, one week.

The retailer didn’t ask for a metallurgy lesson. He asked for a discount. ‍

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Where the colour gap actually starts

Most workshops use a different alloy formulation for each karat grade. Sometimes from different suppliers. Sometimes from different batches of the same supplier. The logic seems sound each karat has different gold content, so each needs its own alloy.

But here’s what that means downstream: every alloy has its own Cu-Ag-Zn balance, its own colour coordinates, its own bias. One leans warm. Another leans pale. A third picks up a slight red. At the tree, nobody notices. At the polishing wheel, maybe. At the retail counter, under D65 lighting, three pieces from the same set look like they came from three different workshops.

And the cost doesn’t show up as ‘alloy expense.’ It shows up as:

→ Re-polishing and colour-matching rework

→ Retailer negotiations and markdown pressure

→ Inventory of three alloy grades instead of one

→ Three parameter sheets for the casting operator to get wrong

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The other two problems hiding behind the same alloy shelf

Colour inconsistency is visible. But it’s rarely the only issue.

Porosity. The pinholes that only appear at the polishing stage. The casting head blames the investment. The polishing head blames the casting. Meanwhile, the alloy’s deoxidation level is low, and dissolved gas is doing exactly what dissolved gas does becoming trapped bubbles.

Softness. The prongs that flex when the setter pushes a stone in. The thin bands that distort during assembly. The piece that goes back marked ‘rework’ or gets quietly sold as seconds. Isse zyada koi frustrating cheez nahi hai especially when the design was right, the wax was right, the investment was right, and the alloy let everyone down at the last step.

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‍One alloy. Three karats. Same colour.

A101 is Legor’s multi-karat yellow gold casting master alloy. It’s designed to work across 9KT, 14KT, and 18KT from a single grade.

What that composition does: ‍

Rich yellow at b* 17.5: Consistent across all three karat formulations, measurable with a colorimeter, repeatable batch to batch.

High deoxidation from 12% Zn: Scavenges dissolved oxygen at the alloy level, before it becomes trapped porosity in the casting.

140 HV as-cast, 225 HV after single-step age hardening: Strong enough for stone setting straight from the flask, even stronger after one heat treatment.

Stone-in-place validated: Defined cooling protocols (30–45 minutes before quench) protect mounted stones during casting.

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One alloy on the shelf. One parameter set for the operator. One colour across the showcase.

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‍What this won’t fix

A better alloy doesn’t compensate for a broken process. If your burnout cycle is inconsistent, your investment is contaminated, or your vacuum system is underperforming, A101 won’t magically eliminate porosity it removes one variable, not all of them.

It’s formulated for 9–18KT. If your production is primarily 22KT, this isn’t the right grade.

The 225 HV number requires a single-step age-hardening treatment. It’s not the as-cast number. If your workshop doesn’t have a hardening oven, you’re working with 140 HV which is still good, but the full benefit needs the extra step.

Par agar aapka process already solid hai burnout dialled in, investment clean, vacuum working then switching the alloy is the fastest way to close the colour gap across karats and cut porosity-related rejections at the same time.

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‍Worth a side-by-side?

Cast your current production design with A101 alongside your existing alloy. Same tree, same flask, same burnout. Compare colour under D65 light. Count pinholes at polishing. Test hardness at the setting bench.

Aankh aur colorimeter dono bata denge.

Reach out: help@preciousalloys.com | +91-22 6101 4444