What is Rhodium Plating?

When we do any repairs involving heat with your new white gold engagement ring, we may ask you if you would like your white gold jewellery rhodium plated. This is because when we laser, solder, or buff your ring it takes off the fine layer of rhodium that may be on your white gold jewellery.

Vintage white gold was created as a more cost effective alternative to platinum. It’s high nickel and zinc content meant it was the beautiful white colour you think of when you picture white gold, but it also made the white gold more brittle and its wearers more likely to have allergic reactions. As a work around for this, jewellers decided to take out some of the nickel and zinc. This made the white gold a lot easier to work with and resulted in less allergic reactions, but it also made the white gold less white. This is the version of white gold we have today. To bring the white gold back to that white colour everyone came to expect, jewellers plate the white gold with rhodium. Rhodium is an element similar to platinum and creates the look of brilliant shiny white metal. As the rhodium slowly wears away over time, you are left with the original white gold that is underneath. While your jewellery looks beautiful with or without rhodium plating, it is all a matter of taste whether you want your piece re-rhodium plated or not.

Will we rhodium plate your yellow gold?

Most of the time the answer is no, but there are exceptions.

While there is nothing stopping someone from plating yellow gold with rhodium, it isn’t long before the yellow gold of the ring starts showing through. With the plating process we also can’t be sure the plating is completely even across the whole piece. Therefore when we attempt to rhodium plate a yellow gold piece, it often results in a patchy and unsatisfying result that doesn’t meet our quality standards. This is especially true with rings, as they get the most wear. Pendants and earrings yield a better result since they are worn in more protected areas. If you really prefer your yellow gold piece to be white gold, the best way to accomplish this would be to chat with our design team about resetting the stones into a new white gold setting. This way you can enjoy it for years to come without having to worry about seeing the yellow gold shining through.