If your jewellery was made in the UK, the short answer is no, it does not need to be rhodium plated. If your jewellery was made in the US, the answer is more complicated.
Why Is White Gold Rhodium Plated?
All high street jewellers rhodium plate their white gold jewellery as standard. Suggest to a sales assistant that you’d like your white gold un-plated and they are most likely going to look at you like you’re mad and will often tell you that white gold jewellery HAS to be plated!
Rhodium plating has been the norm for white gold since its invention. This is because the original white gold alloys were not very successful – they weren’t very ‘white’, and they also included nickel in the mix, which a lot of people have allergic reactions to. Rhodium plating acted as a barrier between the skin and the gold to prevent an allergic reaction, and brightens the tone of white to a cool, chrome-like white to simulate the tone of platinum.
However, now the alloys are guaranteed nickel free (in the UK at least), and the whiteness has been developed into a gorgeous warmer tone of white, so the rhodium plating is no longer necessary.
Why Do Jewellers Continue To Rhodium Plate Jewellery?
Jewellers continue to plate white gold with rhodium because it is the traditional thing to do. They’ve been conditioned to believe that the warmer hue of raw, un-plated white gold looks bad, and requires rhodium plating to look attractive.
I personally disagree – I actually think that raw, un-plated white gold has a luxurious aesthetic – look to the most prestigious jewellery brands and they do not plate their white gold.
The warmer tone of raw white gold actually complements a wider range of skin tones, and certainly those with very pale or those with warm undertones. It also offers a less harsh contrast against darker skin than the cold white of platinum or rhodium plated white gold too.
In isolation, white gold looks white. It only really looks warmer when placed next to silver or platinum in a direct comparison.
Cynically, I can’t help but think some of the reason will be to get you back in the shop where you’re more likely to buy something else while you’re there. I am not interested in having my clients return to me for maintenance like plating – I want their jewellery to age gracefully and be enjoyable to wear, not a burden. I would far rather they return to my studio for a new bespoke project because they’ve had a good experience with me, rather than come back with the frustration of the upkeep of a piece of jewellery.
Lets also consider the fact that 18ct white gold currently costs more than platinum – I can’t get my head around why you would plate it to temporarily look like platinum and have that ongoing cost year on year?
Are There Any Cons To Leaving White Gold Unplated?
None that I can think of! I’d love to hear from you in the comments if you have any thoughts on this – am I missing any negatives to leaving white gold natural? Of course the warmer tone is not to everyone’s taste, and that’s the joy of offering raw white gold almost as an option – you can pick the shade of white you like best, almost like picking your perfect shade of white paint when decorating a room! There is not just one shade of white paint, so why should there by just one tone of white metal for jewellery?
Let’s look at the list of cons to plating white gold:
- Aesthetics – plating on rings wears quickly, and it wears in unattractive patches. The sides and inside of your ring will remain the cool, chrome-like colour of rhodium, whereas the top and back of the ring will wear through to the natural colour of the white gold. This patchy look emphasises the warm tone of the white gold, making it look almost yellow in direct comparison with the remaining rhodium plating, whereas a completely unplated white gold ring will look white!
- Wear and tear – Each time you have your jewellery re-plated, the jeweller has to polish the piece back to a high shine and thoroughly clean it to give a good base for the rhodium. The rhodium plating takes on the finish of the white gold underneath, so if it is left worn and scratched, the rhodium plating will look scratched and matt. This intense re-polishing process wears down the depth of the white gold, wearing your jewellery thinner and thinner each time you have it re-plated. Don’t be fooled by the term ‘dipping’ when you have your jewellery plated – its not really having anything added; plating is microns thick so does not replace the volume of material worn away during plating.
- Environmental impact – rhodium plating is a chemical process, which means there are waste chemicals that will need disposing. Rhodium plating occurs when the jewellery is placed in a bath of rhodium sulfate or phosphate, combined with sulfuric or phosphoric acid, and an electrical current is passed through the jewellery, causing a chemical reaction that fuses a microns thick layer of rhodium to the surface of the jewellery metal. Any porous gemstones have to be removed prior to this process.
- Maintenance and Cost – Each time you have your ring re-plated, you will have to hand over your jewellery for a period of time (it’s not normally something that is done while you wait), and it can cost anywhere between £50-£150 to have the piece plated. If this is an annual cost to maintain the look of your jewellery, then the costs quickly add up.
Can All White Gold Be Left Unplated?
White gold in the US is much more complicated than that produced in the UK. In the UK, we generally make jewellery using 9 or 18ct gold (although 14ct is becoming quite popular too). This means that the gold alloys are made up of 9 or 18 parts out of 24 pure gold. The remaining 15 or 6 parts are made up from silver, platinum and palladium, but no nickel.
The US gold system uses slightly different qualities of gold (usually 10 and 14ct) but also different levels of nickel content. The less nickel present in the alloy, the more expensive it is.
Therefore the answer to the question ‘does white gold need to be rhodium plated’ is far more complex when talking about jewellery produced in the US. If you do not have an allergy to nickel, you’re fine to go natural and unplated, but if you do have a sensitivity to nickel then you will need to have your jewellery plated to stop it causing allergic reactions. Again, I would simply recommend you opt for platinum if you’re looking for a white precious metal option rather than take on the maintenance of re-plating white gold.
Myths Surrounding Rhodium Plating
Lets set the record straight with some common misconceptions about white gold:
- Rhodium plating makes white gold shiny – FALSE. As explained earlier on in this article, any kind of plating you put on top of metal takes on the finish of the metal below it. Rhodium plate a brushed/satin finished white gold ring, and the rhodium plating will still look brushed/satin, but the temperature of the white tone will change from warm to cool.
- Rhodium plating adds strength to white gold – FALSE. This is one I see even jewellers stating on their information about rhodium plating and it is completely untrue. Yes, rhodium is a tougher metal than white gold, but the layer of rhodium on your white gold jewellery is so thin that it does not offer any tangible protection to the white gold below it. In fact, I would argue that raw white gold ages more gracefully than the platinum/rhodium family of metals. Its inherent ‘softness’ means that it burnishes in wear and stays glossy, whereas platinum jewellery goes dull quite quickly because it is harder. I know that sounds a bit contradictorary, but its true! Look at a platinum wedding band after a year of normal wear and tear and compare it to a white gold wedding band with the same wear and tear, and the platinum band will look worn and matt, whereas the white gold one may have gathered some ‘patina of life’, but it will still be glossy.
- White gold has to be rhodium plated – FALSE. Absolutely and categorically false. If you prefer the cool white of platinum, then I suggest you opt for platinum in the first place rather than plating white gold to make it temporarily look cool.
- White gold tarnishes without rhodium plating – FALSE. Any colour of gold only tarnishes when it is left unworn for a very long period of time. I commonly have clients say their white gold jewellery is tarnishing – what they think is tarnish is actually just the rhodium plating wearing off in patches. The only jewellery that benefits from rhodium plating (in my opinion) is silver jewellery. Silver is a very reactive metal and will tarnish quickly if left unworn for a period of time (the oils in our skin keep silver jewellery shiny and untarnished), especially in a damp environment, or if worn in chlorinated water. A layer of rhodium plating will act as a barrier to stop this tarnishing process, until the rhodium plating wears away of course…
- White gold is yellow gold with rhodium plating on top – FALSE. I can see why some people might think this, as gold IS yellow – raw gold
What do you think?
I’d love to hear from you with your thoughts on raw, un-plated white gold in the comments. Have I missed any pros and cons in this article? Would you too like to see a change in attitude towards white gold, and see it offered as an alternative shade of white to platinum instead of a ‘lesser’ metal that has to be plated to look like platinum?
If you’re interested in commissioning a unique piece of jewellery in the beautiful tones of raw white gold, get in touch to start your bespoke journey! I am based in Bedfordshire in the UK, but work with clients all over the world.
