- Q. I can't get a straight
answer! Is all gold yellow or not? A. Gold is an element and it's
yellow. So pure 24 kt gold is yellow. But jewelry
isn't made from 24 kt gold because it's too soft to be
usable.
- Q. What is gold jewelry made
of if not pure gold? A. Gold jewelry is made from
an alloy of gold plus other metals. 12 kt gold is
12/24ths gold and 12/24ths other metals. The color of the
alloy depends on what those other metals are.
- Q. What is "white
gold"? A. 12
karat white gold would be half gold and half other
metals, including palladium and/or nickel. Nickel is much
cheaper than palladium, so it is widely used in white
gold jewelry in the U.S.; but so many people are allergic
to nickel that it is forbidden in jewelry in Europe, and
palladium would be used there instead.
- Q. What is
rhodium? A. Now it gets interesting!
Rhodium is a metal ten times as costly as gold. It is not
a feasible material to make solid jewelry from because it
is too stressed and brittle, but rhodium is fabulous as a
plating for jewelry because it is glitteringly,
dazzlingly, white and mirror-like. It makes diamonds look
bigger and better because it's so bright that it's almost
hard to see where the stones end and the metal begins.
Nothing sets off diamonds like rhodium plating does, but
it is only a plating and therefore it will wear
off and require replating.
- Q. Have things changed
between your grandmother's white gold ring and yours?
A. Yes! Years
ago, white gold rings were not rhodium plated; today they
usually are. Which is better and why? Well, if you feel
that heirlooms should not require replating, you won't be
happy with a rhodium plated ring. But if you love today's
brilliant, dazzling, ultra-white diamond-like look, you
simply can't get it from an unplated ring, and you never
could. No matter how well it's made, an unplated alloy
which is about half yellow gold can never even come close
to offering the flashy glint of rhodium plating. Yes,
your grandmother's ring lasted decades and never needed
plating, but it was never dazzling like today's
rings -- it was bright enough for her taste in a
different time.
- Q. Where's the part where it
starts to really
suck? A. Right here! If today's
rings were like your grandmother's ring except with a
layer of rhodium plated onto them, people would be happy.
If you wanted it to knock your eye out you'd get it
replated frequently; and if a more antique look pleased
you, and you object to replating heirlooms, you'd just
let the plating wear off or ask the jeweler not to plate
it.
But most of today's rings are not of the same alloy as
your grandmother's! Once the jewelers recognized that
"it's going to be rhodium plated anyway" they talked
themselves into accepting that the underlying metal
didn't need to be the pleasing shade of your
grandmother's ring. White gold is graded by color, i.e.,
whether it's white enough to be left unplated -- and most
of today's white gold isn't (if interested, see the
article White Gold Alloys: Colour Measurement and
Grading at
www.goldbulletin.org/downloads/Henderson_2_38.pdf which
explains this whiteness factor). In fact, jewelry stores
in the center aisle of malls sometimes rhodium plate
yellow gold rings, and the contrast as they start to wear
is terrible!
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rings
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How long will the plating
last? This is the big question, but the answer
isn't easy. First, it depends on whether it's a ring (which
suffers a great deal of wear), or a pin or broach which
receives almost no contact. And it depends to some extent on
that old bugaboo "body chemistry". But it also depends on
two other very important and controllable factors --
- How good is the quality of
the plating? Good quality plating will last
far longer than a very thin layer of plating applied from
a teacup of contaminated plating solution in the back
room of a jewelry shop. Courtesy of Metal Arts
Specialties /
www.artisanplating.com
we offer a
tutorial
about rhodium plating.
- What color is the underlying
gold? If the white gold underlying the rhodium
plating is a nice acceptable color, there will be nothing
jarring as the plating begins to wear a bit thin in
spots, so you can go a long time between replating. If
the color is slightly yellowish, more frequent replating
will be necessary because the item will look poor that
much sooner. And if the underlying material is strongly
yellow or is actually yellow gold, the contrast will be
dramatic, and replating will be required very frequently.
Yes, you can get your yellow gold jewelry rhodium plated,
but if the piece experiences significant wear, the good
appearance may last only a fairly short time even if the
rhodium plating quality is good, and almost no time if
the plating is poor.
Here are some Q&A threads on the subject if you wish
to read more:
- Letter 1237.
Plating rhodium on white gold
- Letter 5844. Response to
white gold issue
- Letter 8502. Rhodium
plating
- Letter 9403. Test to
determine if band is white gold or yellow gold plated
with rhodium
- Letter 10113. Quick
fade Rhodium plating
- Letter 10202. White
gold discoloration
- Letter 12798. Rhodium
plating over yellow gold
- Letter 13132. White
gold or Rhodium plated confusion or deception
- Letter 15419. Rhodium
plating
- Letter 22709. Sizing
rhodium plated white gold rings
- Letter 26618. Rhodium
plating a white gold ring with engraved detail
If this list didn't cover what you were looking for,
please Search the site
because this is only a sample of the dozens of threads we
have on this topic. Good luck with your ring, and if you
found this page informative, please tell others about it!
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