Reply With QuoteI thought white gold is rhodium plated yellow gold...
A bit of a left-field question, but wondered if anyone has any experience of the above?
I inherited an 18ct yellow gold solitaire with a pretty big diamond in it from my gran's estate.
My wife would like to wear it and she has a wedding band set with diamonds that is rhodium plated.
We'd like the rings to match in terms of the colour, but were advised that rhodium plating the yellow gold means that it will fairly quickly wear through. She would only really be wearing it on special occasions so it's not likely to have a hard life.
Any experiences of doing this?
I thought white gold is rhodium plated yellow gold...
As Mark says, in jewellery white Gold is Rhodium plated yellow gold. Unless it is more common of recent years to make their own white gold like Rolex do in their foundry.
Hi Both
Thanks for the responses.
She was chatting to the jeweller who mentioned something about white gold being a slightly different base that is less yellow before it is plated, compared with 'normal' yellow gold.
Is this true? I had always assumed white gold was just rhodium plated yellow gold, but happy to accept it might not be that straightforward...
I thought that 'white gold' was rhodium plated white gold (to make it even whiter), not yellow gold.
Always seemed pointless TBH, might as well plate brass.
White gold is a lot ‘whiter’ than yellow gold, but still needs rhodium plating to give the finish. Rhodium plating wears through quite easily and if the base gold us yellow it’ll show through. I had a diamond remodelled into a 9ct white gold ring with rhodium plating and within a week the base gold was showing through. 18ct white gold is supposedly ‘whiter’, don’t understand why but thats what I was told, so it’ll be less obvious when the rhodium wears through.
I can’t see rhodium plating a yellow gold ring working, it’ll be fine until its worn a few times but the base gold will show through. I’m not a fan of white gold, platinum is a far better choice for white precious metal. A better option night be to get the diamond remodelled into a new platinum ring.
I don’t know what Rolex use for white gold fluted bezels but it seems very resilient!
Not all white golds are the same, some are much whiter than others and don’t need plating. Others are obviously more yellow and do need plating.
Yellow gold is unsuitable for plating really as, as mentioned previously, it will show the yellow through very quickly.
Paul is right though, platinum is the best white previous metal to use. I had my wife’s white gold engagement ring remade in platinum a few years back because we seemed to be forever replating it!
White gold is a completely different mix to plain yellow gold. I get asked a LOT to rhodium plate yellow gold - I always try to advise against.
The rhodium will wear from both at the same rate. However on yellow its going to be noticeable at around 6 months, whereas on the white it'll be a couple of years. Once you get to the base of yellow its going to look horrible, rather than just a bit faded.
Better to pay a couple of hundred quid to have a new white gold Shank fitted. It won't affect the diamond or setting (which should be in white gold anyway).
Thanks for the info. Every day is a school day.
Maybe if it’s only going to be worn for special occasions it’s worth a punt to plate it and see how it does before more drastic actions?Originally Posted by kevkojak
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Thanks!
She has asked for a quote for a new white gold shank based on this. She then gets exactly what she wanted in terms of it matching her other ring.
Last edited by j0hnbarker; 14th September 2021 at 15:03.
What would be a sensible price for a new 18ct white gold shank on a solitaire ring?
We have been quoted more than a couple of hundred notes. Even chopping in the old 18ct gold shank for scrap takes us near that figure...
Shouldnt be too expesive. I supplied the diamond for my wife's engagement ring - it cost £400 to make in white gold and it was a pretty complex design. Yopur pricing for the old shank scrap value seems optmisitic though.
As mentioned above - you can get white gold alloys which dont really need plating as long as you're happy with a warm white rather than bright silver colour - it's what we used for this and our wedding rings. A decent jeweller will be able to show you examples.
A lot of silver jewellery is plated nowadays, presumably with rhodium. Obviously won’t tarnish put looks horrible IMO, just too bright.
If your going to plate it ask for Palnick not rhodium, it’s a touch more but lasts a lot longer
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The previous Mrs W had a yellow gold engagement and wedding ring rhodium plated.
Worn everyday and lasted about 18 months before they needed doing again.
I had them remade in platinum in the end. (the jeweller was a friend)
If it’s only going to be worn occasionally plating will be fine IMHO
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