Lets have a discussion on white gold

[Thogey]

I see conflicting information on the web. And metal alloy stuff are far as jewelry goes is a mystery to me.

For most of my life I thought it was platinum. Then I understood it to be an alloy, or a natural color of certain gold.

Now I read its rhodium plated. Does white gold tarnish or turn yellow.?

I know there is an expert here?

[smackvay]

I see conflicting information on the web. And metal alloy stuff are far as jewelry goes is a mystery to me.

For most of my life I thought it was platinum. Then I understood it to be an alloy, or a natural color of certain gold.

Now I read its rhodium plated. Does white gold tarnish or turn yellow.?

I know there is an expert here?

true white gold does NOT
i work with a guy than cant wear gold so they plated his gold ring in rhodium so it looks like gold but doesnt break him out
platinum is platinum

[galenrog]

There is a wide variety of alloys that can form white gold. Because there is not a single, specific mix, it can seem a bit confusing. Regardless of alloy, gold is still present, rarely under 25% or over 75%. Typical metals included in the alloy are platinum, palladium, silver, nickel, copper, and manganese. These are, by no means, an inclusive list.

Rhodium is used to plate the finished item to intensify the white color, prevent oxidation, and act as a barrier to allergens, as some people react to some of the metals used. My wife has a .650 fine (65% gold) white gold ring she inherited from an aunt. In the thirty years she has had it, she has had it replated about every five years, primarily to prevent reaction to both copper and nickel in the alloy.

Any tarnish or discoloration of white gold is due to oxidation of alloy metals other than gold, such as silver or copper.

Time for more coffee.

[68Camaro]

White gold is almost exclusively rhodium plating over conventional gold alloy. The rhodium is a fairly microscopic thin plasma plating that is just thick enough to change the visual appearance to silverish like platinum (which for most of modern times has been more expensive than gold. On frequently worn items like wedding rings the rhodium plating wears off every couple years and needs to be replated, which jewelers have the equipment to do, and it can be done while you wait. Any jewels (if there are any) are polished to remove any plating that gets on them. Ironically platinum is now cheaper than either gold or rhodium so in a new ring I would pick platinum myself if thst is the look you want.

[Lemon Thrower]

I'm not the metalurgy expert that some of you are but my parents exchanged white gold rings in 1952.

No tarnish but perhaps a little blackening like sterling.

I find it hard to believe that the white was a plating rather than part of the alloy.

[Thogey]

true white gold does NOT

So is there an alloy or purity level that is considered true white gold?

I guess I dont see why you would have jewelry made of a precious metal if you had to plate it

[smackvay]

true white gold does NOT

So is there an alloy or purity level that is considered true white gold?

I don’t have that answer if you could get market harmony to chime in he is super knowledgeable on this kind of thing.

Mike

[68Camaro]

See https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colored_gold and note the illustration. While I can't speak to possible nickel alloys (the illustration is for the gold copper silver trinary) most reputable jewelers don't use nickel as a gold alloy agent. There is no single alloy at any reasonable gold level (9 kt or higher) that looks silver by itself. If the ring is marked 10 kt or 12 it or 14 it then it will look yellow underneath the rhodium plating.

As to white gold from the "olden" days, there was a time when it was used as a synonym for platinum back before platinum got it's reputation as desirable. My grandmother got a platinum ring in the early 50s and she called it white gold.

[scrapman1077]

"If the ring is marked 10 kt or 12 it or 14 it then it will look yellow underneath the rhodium plating."

Not true, Wife and I exchanged white gold rings in 1975, she had to have her ring cut off and it is the same color thru the ring, not plated, not platinum. We have platinum now, totally different color from our old rings.

[68Camaro]

Same reference acknowledges that gold–palladium–silver and gold–nickel–copper–zinc alloys are (or were) used for white gold, and even those were/are normally plated with rhodium. Maybe yours was one of those. The nickel alloys are less desirable due to allergic reactions. The Pd alloy is currently more expensive than gold, though not during past times. Main point is that there is no standard white gold alloy. Platinum is the cheapest current "white" jewelry metal.

[Thogey]

good discussion..learning.

Here's a question. is there a way to tell visually if a ring is "true white gold" and or plated?

[68Camaro]

And a more modern data point on what can be observed with white gold - my wife's current rings are rhodium plated white gold circa 2009 and the rhodium wears through to a yellowish cast underneath. She just had them replated with a new layer of rhodium last year.

[smackvay]

good discussion..learning.

Here's a question. is there a way to tell visually if a ring is "true white gold" and or plated?

If i question a plated ring i do a deep scratch test on it. After looking at a ton of rings you can learn to spot bad makers marks or it just looks off sometimes

[galenrog]

68Camaro, and others, are correct in that most “white gold” is simply standard yellow alloys that have been plated, primarily with rhodium, and that some “white gold” of the past is platinum.

End the end, there are a lot of ways that “white gold” has been, and is, made. It is confusing to some, and a world of infinite variety to others. The trick is to learn to recognize what you have, which takes a great deal of knowledge and experience.

Time for more coffee.

[OneBiteAtATime]

I have a 14k white gold wedding band that I’ve been wearing since 1999 and it shows no yellowing.

I used to take it off when I was in construction during the work day and to play golf, but those days are long ago.

[Rodebaugh]

I have cast and had cast quite a few silver colored gold crowns. galenrog hit the nail on the head; allows can differ wildly within the au purity range 25-75%.

[fasteddy]

I commissioned a custom gold ring for our 25th wedding anniversary for my wife....I like yellow gold but she wanted white gold...My jeweler that I have known since birth told me she would make it with platinum to get the white...now y'all have me curious as to the content of each metal.

We do a lot of mine tours when able to...In Georgetown CO they have several that are all fantastic. On one of the tours the guide was explaining that the miners were pulling a lot of silver colored ore out of the mine that wasn't silver ore...they used this ore to fill the town's potholes. When the Platinum was discovered in the ore the potholes reappeared over night. I don't know if the story is true or just tourist fodder.