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Rhodium plating over yellow gold
My jeweler has suggested that he coat a 14K yellow gold ring with rhodium to give me the white gold appearance that I want. Are there any foreseeable problems with this? It is a custom-made ring and he is trying to avoid the cost of making a new one in white gold.
Jaynie Herger- Vernon, BC, Canada
Hi, Jaynie. It is perhaps possible for this project to be successful, but it is unlikely that it will be. The plating is very thin and rings are very high wear items, so the life will probably be unacceptably short. More detail can be found in the responses to letter 1237.
Ted Mooney, P.E.
finishing.com
Brick, New Jersey
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In response to why white gold turns yellowish the answer is quite simple: there is no such thing as white gold.
Gold is gold in color to make it white alloys are added.
Hence the yellow tint. Rhodium plating solves the problem but will wear off in time and need to be replated
retired jeweler - Pelzer, South Carolina
January , 2009Thanks for the effort to simplify things, Carmine, but I think you have simplified it a bit too much :-)
Yes, pure 24 karat gold is always yellow. And when white metals and bleaching metals are added, the resultant 12 karat or 14 karat alloy is "whitish". The over-simplification is that some such alloys are rather yellowish whereas other such alloys are white enough to be left unplated.
One need only look at rings from 40 and more years ago to see that most were sufficiently white that rhodium plating was not necessary. They were certainly not as white and brilliant as rhodium plating, but much whiter than most of today's "white gold". This is not a subjective matter either; rather there are ASTM and jewelry association whiteness scales for white gold, and a clear realization that some alloys are white enough to remain unplated and some are not.
We have a "Rhodium Plating & White Gold" FAQ which the readers may wish to view to quickly understand these issues. Thanks again.
Ted Mooney, P.E.
finishing.com
Brick, New Jersey
January 3, 2009
Jaynie, I'm interested in hearing whether you decided to try this and, if so, how it turned out. I'm about to buy a yellow gold diamond ring not knowing if my girlfriend prefers white and am thinking about the plating option if it turns out she does.
Ted, I have read through letter 1237. Do you think success is unlikely because yellow gold's color will unavoidably show through the rhodium or because the abundance of poor quality plating will not be good enough to cover the gold's color? In other words, would the project be a likely success if one was to go to a top-notch plating expert?
- New York, New York
January 7, 2009Hi, Rod. The thicker the better and the higher quality the better. The yellow substrate does not 'show through' as plated; rather it will show through as the plating starts to wear away. Rings suffer a great deal of wear and even the thickest rhodium is measured in millionths of an inch thick. Good luck.
Regards,
Ted Mooney, P.E.
finishing.com
Brick, New Jersey
August 5, 2009
Hello, my fiance is wanting to use my grandmothers ring to propose... My grandma's ring is Yellow Gold. Scott (my fiance) knows I'm not a "yellow gold" type of gal, so he's wanting to take the diamonds out and place them in silver. This is obviously NOT okay with me, as it is my grandma's ring, but I would be okay with this "rhodium" plating that was described, or white gold plating it! HELP! Anyone have suggestions, and then not only that... but somewhere that actually can DO this service well.
Ali M.research - Carmel, Indiana
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Ed. note: this website's supporting advertiser Metal Arts Specialties specializes in thick, super quality rhodium plating. It will probably be far more satisfactory than a thin plating done in a teacup in the back of a jewelry shop. We can't guarantee anything but maybe they can.
October 5, 2009
Do not get rhodium over a ring. My husband and I got a ring that was yellow gold and wanted it to match my wedding ring which was white gold. We got it plated with Rhodium not even a month later it started to fade and look really tacky! We paid so much for our rings, and his looks fake! I'm in the process right now trying to get a different ring for him (one that is WHITE gold to start with) or I hope they will make a whole new ring.
Sabrina Palm- Lawton, Oklahoma