Chris Ploof unveils Modern Electrum jewelry as gold prices stay high

As gold prices remain punishingly high, Chris Ploof is making a case for a metal that looks precious, wears easily and costs less to chase. His new Modern Electrum collection is the first jewelry line built around a newly created alloy of the same name, and its pricing, from $935 to $2,195 retail, lands far below the current cost of gold while still reading as fine jewelry.

The alloy itself is the story. Legor describes Modern Electrum as an exclusive blend of gold, silver and palladium, made entirely from certified recycled materials and formulated to be nickel-free and copper-free. That technical brief matters because electrum is not a decorative fantasy name. In antiquity, electrum was a natural or man-made gold-silver alloy used in some of the first known coins in the Western world, and it was closely tied to Lydia in what is now western Turkey. Modern Electrum updates that lineage with a material meant for contemporary wear, not museum display.

Ploof said the metal behaved well at the bench, machined cleanly and was easy to use for diamond setting. Just as important for the eye, the alloy carries a straw-colored tint that can still read as a white metal, a useful ambiguity in jewelry that has to move from office hours to evening without looking costume-heavy. The collection includes rings, earrings, bracelets and pendants, with and without diamonds, and that breadth suggests Ploof is thinking less about a single hero piece than about a working wardrobe of metal.

The pricing frame is where the collection becomes especially pointed. National Jeweler reported Modern Electrum at $650 an ounce, while gold was around $4,540 an ounce, platinum at $1,960 and silver at $76 at the time. In that context, a diamond-set ring at $1,325 and a Reliquary pendant at $1,065 look like a deliberate answer to investment anxiety as much as to style. The collection was developed with Legor, Diamonds de Canada and the Italian manufacturer Alessi Domenico S.p.A., and its public moment traces back to Oroarezzo 2025, held May 10-13 in Arezzo, Italy.

The line is set to appear at Las Vegas Market Week at the CBG Show May 26-27 and at JCK from May 20 through June 1, 2026. For jewelers and clients alike, Modern Electrum lands in a sweet spot: a recycled, non-tarnishing metal with the visual poise of gold and the practical temperament needed for everyday jewelry.