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Why is unplated white gold taboo?

Thanks, groucho!

I have one new thought on this topic 5 years later. I would not do my wedding set in unplated white gold for one primary reason. If I were to wear other white gold or platinum jewelry with it (or even a stainless steel watch), the wedding set is going to look odd. Not white metal, not yellow...kind of a dingy color. Same with wearing yellow gold, then it isn't going to look right then, either. I do wear some yellow gold with my platinum rings and studs sometime, but platinum is just more neutral to me, and anything, yellow or rose gold, looks great with it. I have an antique K color diamond that I am setting in platinum right now. I will embrace the color that it is and don't care that there will be a slight contrast in the white metal and the diamond color. I would rather set it in 18k yellow or rose gold over unplated white gold. (Need to add that I personally have lighter, pink toned skin. I can see unplated wg looking better on darker skin tones, but still, there is the issue of how it looks with other jewelry.)

Victor Canera has a good write-up on platinum vs gold here:

https://www.victorcanera.com/education/jewelry/platinum-vs-gold
 
Interesting. I usually do not plate as in almost never. I mostly work with WG. I do not like the to me more fake look of rhodium plating. I prefer the more organic/natural look of WG. Definitely do not plate brushed, textured, matted but I generally leave polished unplated too. It does not look like YG in any way. It definitely looks white but less stark white and not as shiny. I know jewelers that are not even willing to plate, while some insist on it. It is subjective I guess. Many argue that plating is necessary for colorless diamonds. I guess it depends. If I was to put a J and down in WG I would most def. leave it unplated. Unplated WG is far better for warm colored stones (think orange FCD; fancy vivid yellow) when you are trying to achieve contrast but not a shocking contrast with the stark white metal look.
 
Most white gold in the US contains nickel. The EU has standards for how much nickel can leach out and has less generally.

There are lots and lots of different alloys; they contain different amounts of metals, they have different properties, and newer and better combinations are being invented all the time. All custom benches have alloys they prefer to use and you can see some real differences in the styles of truly custom rings. Some benches refuse to use palladium white gold (too brittle); others won't use nickel (too many allergies). And this doesn't even begin to touch on the non-precious metal alloys, which have plenty of love from craftspeople.

My guess is that it's really a combination of white gold not being white enough to be white nor yellow enough to be yellow, custom benches feeling it's not an ideal material to work with, alloys being made for something other than visible color, and designers showing everything in bright white because it looks so dramatic.
 
Most ordinary 14k white gold, not the superwhite new alloys, gets yellower over time if it's not plated. That's especially true of jewelry that is not a ring, or is a ring that sits in a box for long periods and isn't worn much. If you have a D/E white diamond set in that, there's an enormous contrast between the white / colorless diamond and the oxidized white gold. I've never found any product (abrasive or liquid) I can use at home that will brighten up oxidized white gold. I wind up taking it in to the jeweler to be cleaned. This problem doesn't seem as bad with 18k WG. But ymmv.
 
This is an interesting topic because opinions and generalizations seem to be all over the map. I suspect any "taboo" is simply a reflection of modern sensibilities.

I have a white gold ring from the 1960s, and it doesn't look yellow or dingy and has never oxidized in any way. I suspect it all depends on the alloy, and each white gold item should be judged individually.

Btw, I have fair skin, and I like the way white metals look on me, so that's a matter of personal taste as well. :angel:
 
Hi,

I stumbled across this discussion and found it very interesting. I am looking for wedding bands for myself (men) and find that Jewelers knowledge of what they sell is extremely poor.
Yesterday I was in London and visited 2 high end stores and asked mainly 2 questions.
1) Do you have 14k unplated white gold - and what alloys are used
2) Platinum, what type of alloys do they use for the 950 rings

Both stores said something like, wow I have worked here 10 years and never had anyone ask that, I don't know. And - all white gold is plated with Rhodium.

How can I then possibly find my was as a super novice customer? I have seen the unplated 14k WG and just loved the warmer colour look - I know that's what I want.
BUT I also would like something that is as resistant to scratches and wear and tear as possible. I would also love to see real life examples of how platinum, palladium and 14k white gold differs in colour.
Now I have been to dozens of retailers in Oslo, Bergen and London and no one has this. Most stores can order anything but only have very few "not real" models for show.

So I am just very confused - "experts" in stores just don't know what they are talking about.

I guess what I am asking since this forum members really seem to be know what is what.
I am going to South Florida this summer, apart from that I live in Norway and travel to UK from time to time. Where can I find what I am looking for ?!?

Thanks, Thomas
 
Togun said:
Hi,

I stumbled across this discussion and found it very interesting. I am looking for wedding bands for myself (men) and find that Jewelers knowledge of what they sell is extremely poor.
Yesterday I was in London and visited 2 high end stores and asked mainly 2 questions.
1) Do you have 14k unplated white gold - and what alloys are used
2) Platinum, what type of alloys do they use for the 950 rings

Both stores said something like, wow I have worked here 10 years and never had anyone ask that, I don't know. And - all white gold is plated with Rhodium.

How can I then possibly find my was as a super novice customer? I have seen the unplated 14k WG and just loved the warmer colour look - I know that's what I want.
BUT I also would like something that is as resistant to scratches and wear and tear as possible. I would also love to see real life examples of how platinum, palladium and 14k white gold differs in colour.
Now I have been to dozens of retailers in Oslo, Bergen and London and no one has this. Most stores can order anything but only have very few "not real" models for show.

So I am just very confused - "experts" in stores just don't know what they are talking about.

I guess what I am asking since this forum members really seem to be know what is what.
I am going to South Florida this summer, apart from that I live in Norway and travel to UK from time to time. Where can I find what I am looking for ?!?

Thanks, Thomas
Click to expand...

I suspect many, if not most, jewelry store employees just needed a job and are not there to pursue their passion.
Training, if any, would focus on maximizing sales to the usual customer.
PS posters are the ones passionate for knowledge about diamonds and jewelry.

Next, all businesses cater to the masses and depend on economy of scale to make a profit.
Asking for something out of the ordinary throws a wrench into their mass production machine.
Brown rice costs more than white, even though they are omitting the hulling process.
Go figure.

In the store your question can be answered by only 2 or 3 people.
Here you are reaching millions around the world.
 
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My rings were (intentionally) unplated. A few years ago I popped into a local shop to have a look around, the jeweler offered to clean my rings and when she returned them said with a big smile “I gave them a quick plating, they were really looking dull.” I was shocked and said so, and she was shocked that I was not delighted to have shiny rings.

Anyway, they’re back to the softer look now, which I much prefer. Interesting to hear the back story. When I was married before and didn’t really know anything when we bought my rings, the jeweler made a big point of telling me they had to be replated every year for about $40 to stay looking nice. Managing expectations about how they would age? Revenue management through annual maintenance? Getting clients back through the door for an additional sale? Maybe all of the above?
 
MonkeysInk said:
My rings were (intentionally) unplated. A few years ago I popped into a local shop to have a look around, the jeweler offered to clean my rings and when she returned them said with a big smile “I gave them a quick plating, they were really looking dull.” I was shocked and said so, and she was shocked that I was not delighted to have shiny rings.

Anyway, they’re back to the softer look now, which I much prefer. Interesting to hear the back story. When I was married before and didn’t really know anything when we bought my rings, the jeweler made a big point of telling me they had to be replated every year for about $40 to stay looking nice. Managing expectations about how they would age? Revenue management through annual maintenance? Getting clients back through the door for an additional sale? Maybe all of the above?
Click to expand...

OMG!!!
How DARE you be different from the majority!!! :naughty: :angryfire:

:lol-2:
 
MonkeysInk said:
My rings were (intentionally) unplated. A few years ago I popped into a local shop to have a look around, the jeweler offered to clean my rings and when she returned them said with a big smile “I gave them a quick plating, they were really looking dull.” I was shocked and said so, and she was shocked that I was not delighted to have shiny rings.

Anyway, they’re back to the softer look now, which I much prefer. Interesting to hear the back story. When I was married before and didn’t really know anything when we bought my rings, the jeweler made a big point of telling me they had to be replated every year for about $40 to stay looking nice. Managing expectations about how they would age? Revenue management through annual maintenance? Getting clients back through the door for an additional sale? Maybe all of the above?
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Oh my goodness!!! I would lose it if that happened to my unplated WG rings :eek-2::errrr::nono::angryfire:;(

There's no good way to remove that unsolicited "quick plating" other than waiting for it to wear off - and hoping all plated surfaces are actually subject to wear!!
 
diamondseeker2006 said:
White gold was apparently used during the war when platinum was being used for something I can't recall. So it was a substitute for the preferred white metal. Today, I think it is mostly preferred because it costs less than platinum and also because some have only seen the plat/iridium that is so soft that it gets that gray patina so easily so they think they don't like platinum.

My 18k white gold ring with plating gone looks like maybe 10k yellow gold. Definitely looks like yellow gold, though, and therefore, you'd have to like light yellow gold to want it. I do like it and am not inclined to replate unless I sell it in the future. You'd just have to have a matching band.
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Can I ask if is evenly coloured or if it has worn in patches? My ER and WR are both 18k but I didn't wear the ER much. Now I have a WR (as of two weeks ago) I am wearing them both a lot. I am actually excited by the idea that they will wear to be a bit yellow as I kind of wish I got yellow gold!
 
I prefer the slightly grey metallic look of platinum :lol:
 
I agree that most jewelers plate white gold, here also. Also many are convinced that plating should be done. I personally never wear plated WG and do not routinely plate it for customers. Only if they specifically ask for it. I much prefer the natural look of WG. That is all subjective but if the jewelry is handmade, custom made, etc., actually all pieces would be made in unplated gold and then rhodium plated so they would just have to omit that step.

I also once had a repair done on my halo studs and the guy, not my own bench, just plated the earrings for me. Needless to say I was not happy. While plating makes the gold look extra, ultra shiny and some may argue that diamonds look better, whiter in it, it is a personal preference, to me the look is too fake. Also does not go along with many organic designs IMHO.

Now, the difficulty arises when you are matching a chain to a pendant because chains are not routinely handmade (I have done it but in most cases the extra expense is not worth it) and chains are always sold rhodium plated.
 
Sunstorm said:
I agree that most jewelers plate white gold, here also. Also many are convinced that plating should be done. I personally never wear plated WG and do not routinely plate it for customers. Only if they specifically ask for it. I much prefer the natural look of WG. That is all subjective but if the jewelry is handmade, custom made, etc., actually all pieces would be made in unplated gold and then rhodium plated so they would just have to omit that step.

I also once had a repair done on my halo studs and the guy, not my own bench, just plated the earrings for me. Needless to say I was not happy. While plating makes the gold look extra, ultra shiny and some may argue that diamonds look better, whiter in it, it is a personal preference, to me the look is too fake. Also does not go along with many organic designs IMHO.

Now, the difficulty arises when you are matching a chain to a pendant because chains are not routinely handmade (I have done it but in most cases the extra expense is not worth it) and chains are always sold rhodium plated.
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Hey Sunstorm, might I ask where you have your business?
I am so struggling to find some retailer to buy what I want and actually know a little bit more than a rookie customer like myself?!

I really can not understand how someone can survive without at least basic knowledge about the products they are selling - in my business that would be the end as that promotes no trust.

Br, Thomas
 
My original engagement ring was in 18ct white gold, unplated. I had to get my ring remade because it couldn’t be resized up enough due to the flush setting. Anyway, I again ordered 18ct white gold and was rather “startled” when I picked it up - “oh my” I said “I wanted 18ct gold not silver,”
It’s 18ct gold I was told. “Why is it a bright shiny cheap looking colour then”. Hmmmmm, that would be the rhodium plating. So, how long til it wears off ?
 
Bron, it takes time for it wear it, give it a year or two but it is gradual. Unfortunately with chains I find that it wears off somewhat uneven. I do not plate rings but I have seen some and it was not in obvious patches. I would recommend getting it polished after a while since polishing also takes off the upper layer and that will help you achieve the look you ultimately want.

Togun I am in Europe. Mass stores and brand stores usually plate here too, it is more the custom boutiques that do not or at least give you the option not to.
 
Rhodium plating does not make a ring more durable or resistant to scratching.

Plating does not make the metal ‘shinier’. That’s the polish. If you plate a ring with scratches, you’ll get whiter scratches. Nothing more. When you go to the jeweler to get your ring replated and it comes back all shiny and pretty, that’s because they cleaned and polished it first.

Plating can be removed almost as easily as it can be added. It’s harder in some deeply inaccessible places, like behind stones or between prongs but, for the most part, if you don’t like it, it can be removed by the same people, and using the same tools, that they used in the first place.
 
I am old school, in that I like a metal to look like the metal it "is", which is why I prefer to wear silver, yellow gold, or platinum. White gold is a bit of a funny beast, especially as the different mixes can vary in how much yellow tint you can see. However the last ring I had, I wanted a white metal, could not afford platinum, and got 18K white gold, unplated. I thought it was beautiful, a soft white but very shiny. I am more open to white gold mixes. And maybe I'm funny, but I don't like the idea of something being plated over. I'd rather have it be the metal color it is, even if it does mean it's not completely "white". I feel like it is more likely to wear evenly, than have shiny and dull rubbed-off spots.
 
Sunstorm said:
Bron, it takes time for it wear it, give it a year or two but it is gradual. Unfortunately with chains I find that it wears off somewhat uneven. I do not plate rings but I have seen some and it was not in obvious patches. I would recommend getting it polished after a while since polishing also takes off the upper layer and that will help you achieve the look you ultimately want.

Togun I am in Europe. Mass stores and brand stores usually plate here too, it is more the custom boutiques that do not or at least give you the option not to.
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Sunstorm: Thanks, I am also in Europe - struggling to find a good custom boutique. HINT HINT o_O
 
A lot more people wear unplated than you would think.
Many people buy a ring and wears it and it will be decades if ever before it is worked on at all. The plating is gone after a short time.
 
I have several custom pieces that I request specifically not to be dipped. I want that old gold look, that off white darker patina. Rhodium does not do it for me.
 
Shellcm said:
Can I ask if is evenly coloured or if it has worn in patches? My ER and WR are both 18k but I didn't wear the ER much. Now I have a WR (as of two weeks ago) I am wearing them both a lot. I am actually excited by the idea that they will wear to be a bit yellow as I kind of wish I got yellow gold!
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No, it would not be even colored. Where the rhodium wears away it will look light yellow gold. Places where the ring doesn't rub against things, it keeps the rhodium finish. So to keep them all the same color, you have to rhodium plate them when you start to see patches of light yellow.
 
For me it is a personal preference as I do not like yellow metal. Therefore white gold, even 18K would need to be plated for me.
DK :))
 
dk168 said:
For me it is a personal preference as I do not like yellow metal.
Therefore white gold, even 18K would need to be plated for me.
DK :))
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18K has more gold than 14 or 10K, so 18K will be more yellow, not less, than alloys with less gold.

So , perhaps you mean even 14K or even 10K.
 
Yup, my mistake in thinking 18K being less yellow than 9 or 10K, DOH!
DK :rolleyes2:
 
Cheers. :dance:
 
Ran across this thread quite by accident and really went down a rabbit hole. Today, just over a year after the last post, I have mailed off a ring I never wear to my husband's daughter. She can wear it as an ER or RHR -- her choice. The ring is one I had made in 1999 by a local jeweler (fairly large company, but only located in my city and one just to my south....now out of business) in 14K WG. As I pulled it out of its box to mail it off, I realized that it was UNPLATED WG! No rhodium isn't even something I asked for at the time, they just didn't plate it! It's mellowed into a lovely, creamy color that makes the hyper-white old stone really pop.

In the package, I put a note that the metal was natural white gold, no rhodium -- so she would need to get an unplated band if she wanted to wear it as a set. These days, there are goldsmiths on Etsy that will make you bands in unplated WG of any karat. They are calling it "vanilla gold". :mrgreen2:

Here is a link to a video of the ring where I think you can see the soft shade of the gold. Taken under a tree in my back yard:

 
Niel said:
Who knows. When o had my ringade I asked them not to plate it. JA said they will not send out any white gold without rhodium. I basically had to say I will go elsewhere before they would agree to do it
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Funny, isn’t it. I had my asscher set locally and requested unplated white gold.
They said yes, but then presented me with a nicely plated ring. I went home and took the plating off, not wanting to make them lower their standards. (Or, actually, mess further any further my diamond) LOL
 
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