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Letter 12798
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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
Carmine Girone
retired jeweler - Pelzer, South Carolina
Thanks for the effort to simplify things, Carmine, but I think you have over simplified them.
Yes, pure 24 karat gold is yellow. But when the 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 remain rather strongly yellow whereas others are white enough to be left unplated.
One need only look at rings from 30, 40, and more years ago to see that most were sufficiently white that rhodium plating was not necessary. Of course they were certainly not as white and brilliant as rhodium plating. This is not totally a subjective matter either; rather there are both ASTM and jewelry association whiteness scales for white gold.
We have a "Rhodium Plating & White Gold" FAQ which the readers may wish to view to quickly understand these issues.
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Ted Mooney finishing.com Brick, New Jersey |
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?
Rod Griffs
- New York, New York
Hi, Rod. The thicker the better and the higher quality the better. The yellow substrate will not 'show through' as plated; rather it will show through as the plating starts to wear through. Rings suffer a great deal of wear and even the thickest rhodium is measured in millionths of an inch thick.
Regards,
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Ted Mooney 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
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

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