Is this normal when having prongs re-tipped?

[VRBeauty]

Today I went to a local jeweler to pick up my SIL's ring, which had been left there to get 13 tips and two bezels re-done. There was something "off" about how it looked, so examined it with a loupe. What I found was that the tips on the white gold ring, as well as two bezels at the edge of the ring, had been re-done in a noticeably darker shade of gold. When I pointed this out to the woman who was helping me, she agreed that the gold used was a different color than that in the rest of the ring, but pointed out that the prongs were very small and it wasn't noticeable. I asked about rhodium-plating it, and they offered to do it at no cost. I left it there for the rhodium plating, and will pick it up tomorrow. My family is dealing with a health crisis and I don't want to take the time to have the tips re-re-done at this time, not to mention that I'm not sure I want to trust this jeweler to do the work.

I assumed the prongs would have been re-tipped with the same color of gold as was used in the body of the ring - or with a gold that at least wasn't noticeably different from the rest of the ring. Should I have specified this when I dropped the ring off for repair?

The backstory is that I had originally brought the ring in to the jeweler for cleaning, and she (one of the shop's co-owners, also not the person who did the repairs) had noted that some of the prongs needed repair, as did two somewhat prominent bezels. She quoted me a very fair price to have the work done. I mentioned this when I returned the ring to my SIL, and she said her jeweler at home had told her the same thing. We are currently visiting my father's house - my parents have worked with this shop before, always without problem. It is literally a mom and pop store and they've always treated my parents right. So - I suggested that my SIL accept this offer and she decided to do so. The ring is a vintage art deco-style ring with lots of little sidestones, probably 30 diamond or so in all. She doesn't wear it regularly, so the rhodium plating should last a long time. Still, I'm not happy that her ring is less than perfect after this repair, and will probably offer to have my local jeweler (at home) fix it as some point.

 

[MollyMalone]

I'm interested in hearing what your local jeweler might say. I know the alloys & solder used when re-tipping are not the same ones used when fabricating. And it's not always easy-peasy for a bench to color-match the gold alloys that were used "back when" to make the vintage or antique rings brought in for repair/restoration.

But of course it's possible that, as you suspect, this bench was simply slapdash.

P.S. Do you know if-when your SIL's white gold ring was last plated with rhodium? Plating alone might account for the difference in color between the rest of the ring & the new prong tips and bezels.

 

[VRBeauty]

P.S. Do you know if-when your SIL's white gold ring was last plated with rhodium? Plating alone might account for the difference in color between the rest of the ring & the new prong tips and bezels.

That's a good question! When I explained the situation to my SIL, she had no idea what rhodium plating was. So, if the ring had been plated previously, it would probably have been done some time before my brother proposed to her... 27 or more years ago.

 

[VRBeauty]

Any other thoughts on this? I would appreciate additional input before we pick up the ring later this week.

 

[VRBeauty]

Anybody?

 

[denverappraiser]

The typical way tipping is done is to take a tiny bead of white gold, solder it to the tip of the prong, and then finish it down to whatever the desired shape is. It's not a super hard job and it's a common one at nearly every shop. That means that there are 3 different alloys: the original, the bead, and the solder. A bit of a mismatch is common and, frankly, unavoidable. They don't have the original recipe to match and solder is different in any case. You'll see the same thing with the weld at the bottom of the head and the like. In the case of white gold, rhodium is the correct solution. I haven't seen the piece and obviously can't comment on the craftsmanship. There may be other issues but from your story, my only real criticism is that the plating should have been done before you picked it up in the first place.

 

[bcavitt]

The typical way tipping is done is to take a tiny bead of white gold, solder it to the tip of the prong, and then finish it down to whatever the desired shape is. It's not a super hard job and it's a common one at nearly every shop. That means that there are 3 different alloys: the original, the bead, and the solder. A bit of a mismatch is common and, frankly, unavoidable. They don't have the original recipe to match and solder is different in any case. You'll see the same thing with the weld at the bottom of the head and the like. In the case of white gold, rhodium is the correct solution. I haven't seen the piece and obviously can't comment on the craftsmanship. There may be other issues but from your story, my only real criticism is that the plating should have been done before you picked it up in the first place.

+1 to this. Rhodium plating is routinely done when any type of solder work is done to white gold jewelry so any mismatches in alloy is hidden by the rhodium. This probably also happens during manufacture when the ring is cast and the heads come from an outside vendor like Stuller Settings. In fact Stuller on their website says their white gold parts are "semi-finished".

 

[VRBeauty]

Mollymalone, Neil, and Bryan: I was afraid I had steered my SIL to a sub-par jeweler, and ruined her engagement ring. I'm glad to hear that's not the case. Thank you all for your responses, and for putting my mind at ease.

As an aside, does anybody know how long rhodium plating has been around? Or for that matter, "white gold"?

 

[bcavitt]

White Gold in jewelry started being popular during World War II when platinum was in short supply because of the war effort although it was around since the 1920's.

Rhodium plating was first used with silverware in the 1920's.

 

[VRBeauty]

Thanks for that additional information, Bryan. It's good to know that the ring was most likely already rhodium plated.

The person who gave me the ring when I picked it up today apologized profusely. Apparently, either the the gold wire used to make the new prongs had been mis-labeled, or the jeweler grabbed the wrong wire... and the mistake wasn't caught by the person who inspected the ring before calling to let us know it was ready, either. This shop is in a very old building, and I will say that the ambient lighting in the back part of the shop isn't nearly as good as that used at the sales counter, so I can see this happening.

Here's an admittedly poor picture of the ring, in case anyone is interested.

 

[RetroTreeGal]

Oh my gosh that's gorgeous.
I'm glad everything worked out okay. I'm surprised rhodium plating wasn't standard practice after retipping; mine was done without mention after my prongs were retipped.

 

[diamondseeker2006]

I agree. I can't believe they didn't automatically rhodium plate it after retipping. Glad it was nothing serious!

 

[VRBeauty]

Thanks, retrotreegal and diamondseeker2006. I'm surprised too - and even more surprised that they didn't seem to have noticed the discrepancy until I pointed it out to them!