A thin layer of rhodium
You have probably experienced it: you buy a beautiful white gold ring from a jeweler but after a few weeks a yellow glow starts to show in the ring. Or sometimes it is even worse and you buy a piece of jewelry online where the advertisement claims it is white gold and then it turns out there is copper under the white layer.... This is called rhodium plating.
What is the deal with the ring? The ring is made of yellow gold (or sometimes even cheap base metal) and coated with a layer of rhodium. Rhodium is an extremely white metal that is applied to the ring in a layer of no more than 2 microns (= 0.002 millimeters!) using electroplating equipment. The same is often done with white gold rings to make them look extra shiny in the shop window.
Why we don't rhodium or gold plating
People often use the argument that it makes the jewelry more scratch resistant. Also, the layer is said to be a little rough which makes it less likely to slip off your finger. Unfortunately, however, this is nonsense. This ultra-thin layer often comes off very quickly and therefore will not make the ring more scratch resistant at all. And for easily slipping off a ring there is only one solution and that is to make the ring fit well.
Buy jewelry from the goldsmith
All this is the reason why at The Gold Xperience ® we absolutely do not gold plating, silver plating or rhodium plating. We only use honest materials: excellent quality silver, white gold, platinum - even whiter - and yellow gold. With us, what you see is really what you buy!
