Different alloys in white gold?

[jellybean]

I''m sorry if this question has been asked before but I couldn''t find the answer when I searched...

My grandmother''s wedding ring is from the late 1940''s. It has her original e-ring diamond (a 0.5ct rb) and a bunch of I believe 1pt diamonds set around it in a rectangle with the diamond in the middle. (sorry, I don''t have a picture of it). The ring is made of 14kt white gold.

This ring has never been rhodium plated to the best of our knowledge. In fact, my grandmother hardly ever took it off of her finger so I know it wasn''t even cleaned very often! It is still amazingly shiny and white.

I guess my question is - is there another metal or alloy that was used in white gold "years ago" that would account for this shinyness/whiteness? I''m wondering b/c it seems I need to have my white gold ring rhodium plated every 6 months or so.

Thanks!

 

[loupe]

The ring would not be nickle if it is stamped 14K white gold. First, have it tested. The edge of the top of the ring is a better place than the shank or hoop. White gold alloys usually combine 3 metals. The most common combination was gold, silver and copper. But zinc is added as a deoxidizer and nickel is added to keep it shiny and white. There is a possibilty that the older ring has more nickel in it. Nickel is what makes people "allergic" to jewelry and some alloys have little to no nickel in them for this reason. Could this be why we have so many postings on white gold turning yellow and questions about rhodium??

 

[pyramid]

Feydakin

Did they use palladium in their alloys back then also? I have heard it keeps white gold white so that it does not need rhodium plated.

 

[pyramid]

Thank you Feydakin.

 

[loupe]

There is a nickel alloy called Monel that was used as a white gold substitute during WWII.