Legor revives electrum with recycled metals and Canadian diamonds

Rising gold prices have made every gram a business decision, and Legor is trying to turn that pressure into a new luxury language. Its Modern Electrum, developed with Diamonds de Canada, is being positioned as a lower-cost alternative to gold for jewelry makers who still want precious-metal prestige, with the alloy slated for trade-show and retail introductions including JCK Las Vegas.

The pitch is not nostalgia for its own sake. Britannica defines electrum as a natural or artificial gold alloy with at least 20 percent silver, a material that once powered the first known coins in the Western world and carried value across Egypt, Greece, Rome and Lydia. Legor’s version reworks that history into a proprietary alloy built from five precious metals: gold, silver, platinum, rhodium and palladium. Legor says the formula is made from 100 percent recycled precious metals and alloys, and its technical flyer describes multiple test formulations before the final mix was chosen.

That matters because the real audience here is not only the collector, but the workshop. A material that offers oxidation protection, corrosion resistance, luminosity, malleability and durability gives manufacturers a practical substitute when gold pricing squeezes margins. Designers benefit next, because a workable precious-metal alloy with a heritage story can support a more distinctive visual language than plain yellow gold. Retailers then get a narrative they can actually sell, as long as the message stays precise: this is not imitation, but a different precious-metal expression built to read as intentional.

The diamond component gives Modern Electrum a stronger luxury claim. Diamonds de Canada, based in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, says it is an approved Northwest Territories diamond manufacturer and emphasizes Canadian polishing and optical performance. That pairing is shrewd, because fluorescence in diamonds can be an asset rather than a defect. The Gemological Institute of America describes fluorescence as a visible response to ultraviolet light that can help identify gems and detect treatments, while Natural Diamonds says about 95 percent of fluorescent diamonds glow blue and that medium-to-very-strong fluorescence is relatively rare.

That rarity is part of the appeal in Ernest Jones’s Kleora collection, which uses Modern Electrum with Canadian diamonds chosen for blue glow, exceptional clarity and ethical provenance. Legor says Modern Electrum was already a highlight at T.Gold 2025, and a 2025 industry roundup says it debuted at the 44th edition of Oroarezzo. The commercial test now is clear: if the trade can explain the alloy as a deliberate design choice, Modern Electrum could give diamond jewelry a credible answer to high gold prices without cheapening the category.