White Gold and Rhodium Plating Guide
Pure gold is, of course yellow in colour, but to satisfy demand for white precious metals, ‘white’ gold alloys can be produced by alloying yellow gold with naturally white precious metals such as palladium or silver, or non precious ‘white’ metals to reduce the yellowness of the resulting alloy. Gold bullion suppliers now sell a range of graded white gold alloys which can be compared against a published scale of “whiteness”. However, white gold is routinely electroplated with Rhodium, a precious white metal which imparts a bright white finish. Depending on the level of wear, this finish can, and does, wear off white gold, thus requires more care and maintenance to keep it bright. If the underlying white gold is a yellower grade then it will start to show through as the rhodium wears. Consumers should bear in mind that their white gold jewellery may require re-plating at variable intervals depending on the amount of wear and the thickness of rhodium plating which can be applied to the jewellery. Some designs, particularly those with sharp edges and corners, may only be suitable for a thin plating of rhodium.
