White Gold Information

Considering buying white gold? Before you do, please continue reading this page.

White gold is increasing in popularity, but what people don't realize is that there is no such thing as "white gold" unless you’re talking about an alloy blend. All pure metal elements exist in nature as various shades of grey with the exception of gold and copper. An alloy of metal is a combination of various metallic elements that are used in varying proportions to produce the desired color and properties.

Steel alloys for example, are composed primarily of iron, nickel and other metallic elements. White gold is also an alloy containing gold of course (which is yellow), along with nickel, silver, palladium and other whiter metals to make the alloy appear white. However since there is gold in the alloy blend, it will always appear "yellowish."

Please refer to the following page for more information on white, yellow and rose color gold alloys.

More importantly; the more gold in the alloy, the more yellowish it will appear in color. The karat grade will always indicate the amount of gold in the alloy. For example, 18K = 75% pure gold. So for 18K, this only leaves 25% of the alloy for other metals to make it whiter. This is why 18K white gold is more yellowish than 14K white gold in it’s alloyed form, but they both look the same once they’ve been rhodium plated.

Please refer to the following page for more information on gold karat grades

White gold is almost always rhodium plated. It is a common practice in the jewelry trade to always rhodium plate white gold jewelry. Similarly, platinum can be rhodium plated but most of the time it is left in it's natural state. This is because platinum is a white/grey metal but it is not as bright white as rhodium. Silver is actually the brightest, whitest metal of all natural elements, but Silver unfortunately tarnishes quickly losing it’s bright white luster. Rhodium on the other hand is very white, reflective, extremely hard and virtually tarnish proof, making it a great metal to plate jewelry with, even silver. IUf platinum is rhodium plated, it’s very hard to notice when it wears down because the colors are so similar, but when white gold starts to wear, it’s very noticeable because the base alloy underneath the plating is yellowish. This is why we never recommend you purchase wedding bands made in white gold. We realize it is much more expensive in platinum, but it is worth it in the long run. The plating will probably wear off in 1-5 years of you wearing it, depending on how rough you are on the rings, and how much rhodium plating is on the ring. All white gold jewelry will require maintenance at one time or another to keep it looking brand new. To have a white gold ring rhodium plated, you're probably looking at $20-30 for about 0.25-0.50 microns (a human hair is roughly 100 microns). If it is a two-tone ring, it has to be applied by hand with a brush rather than immersing the whole ring in the electroplating tank. So two tone rings will cost more to maintain their white gold appearance. If you want to make a white gold wedding band very durable, you can get it plated with a layer of platinum of palladium of 1.0-1.5 micron thickness, followed a good 2.5-3.0 micron thickness of rhodium plating. This will set you back around $100, however.

Almost all white gold fashion jewelry from Italy is rhodium plated. This is why they look so shiny and white.

OK you want platinum, but why is it so expensive??? The density of platinum is roughly double that of gold (so it's double the weight for platinum for the same item cast in gold). And platinum costs about 2 times as much as gold per gram. And since all metal jewelry is priced per gram, the same item cast in platinum will cost roughly 4 times what it would in white gold. This is why you don't see very many platinum bracelets or necklaces! Palladium is also an expensive metal, but is much whiter a metal than other grey metals. So a 14K white gold alloy with nickel will not be as white as a 14K white gold alloy with palladium. So there are cheaper and more expensive alloys of white gold. Rhodium is also a very expensive metal as well, but when plating, very little is actually used, so it doesn't cost too much to plate the jewelry.

So what should you purchase? Well always go with platinum whenever possible for high wear items like rings that will be worn daily. If it is a bracelet or necklace, then rhodium plating will actually be best, because it will look very white and most likely never need to be re-plated unless worn frequently, and that could only be every 5 or 10 years, still making the white gold much more affordable.

If you are considering purchasing white gold or two tone yellow/white jewelry and have any questions, please contact a sales associate at 1-888-LUXE-CHA (888-589-3242).