Red Gold

(in Russian, chervonnoe zololo), a high-purity alloy of gold and copper that was used to make chervontsi and other coins. The fineness of red gold ranged from 916 to 986, or from 88 to 94 ⅔ in the zolotnik system. In Russian, the term chervonnoe zoloto has lost its technical meaning and has been retained only in everyday language as an equivalent of “pure gold.”