Rhodium. Different shades?

[Ellen]

I picked my ring up this weekend from the jeweler after having it sized and replated. When he pulled it out, I didn''t think it looked right, but I was in a hurry, and needed to wear it last night.

I tried searching but couldn''t find anything touching on this.

It almost looks darker/worse than it did when I took it in. How could this be? Are there different mixes of Rhodium? It doesn''t look anything like it did when I first got it.

I thought I''d ask and get what info I could before I take it back to see what he says.

 

[Ellen]

A picture''s worth a thousand words....

 

[pyramid]

I wonder if that is the white gold we are seeing. Have they only finished the polishing off of the old rhodium plate and not got around to re-plating it yet?

 

[oldminer]

Rhodium plating solutaions become contaminated over time except with great care to keep them pristine. The Rhodium price has soared to over $6,000 per ounce, so it is vry painful to see it get contaminated before it is depleted and also very costly when any is wasted. Rhodium can plate "dark" when it is dirty. Someone doing the work might miss seeing it has become off colored, so I''d suggest you show it to the jeweler and ask for it to be re-plated. Shouldn''t be a big deal for them to do.

 

[Diamond*Dana]

I would ask the jeweler to redo it. There is a possibility that he forgot to plate it in the first place, that has happened to me several times.

 

[kcoursolle]

Wow, the greyish tone is very obvious in the pictures. Interesting educational thread here.

 

[Ellen]

Pyramid, it was "supposed" to have been done. DD, I too wondered if maybe they just forgot, except, it does look different than it did, which kinda makes me think they did do something...

oldminer, interesting info on Rhodium, thank you! And yes, I''m definitely asking it to be redone.

*hoping for the best*

 

[Ellen]

Date: 5/13/2007 1:58:10 PM
Author: kcoursolle
Wow, the greyish tone is very obvious in the pictures. Interesting educational thread here.

Yeah, it is. I'm kinda surprised they gave it to me like that.

And yes, great info, who knew?!

 

[starryeyed]

Hi Ellen. Sounds like you have your answer, but I just thought I''d chime in to add that I own a few pieces with "black rhodium" plating.

I have some pieces that are black and white diamond pave and in the area of the black diamonds, there is black rhodium plating. I''ve seen this done with brown diamond pave as well as blue sapphire pave also.

 

[JohnQuixote]

Date: 5/13/2007 12:48:04 PM
Author: oldminer
Rhodium plating solutaions become contaminated over time except with great care to keep them pristine. The Rhodium price has soared to over $6,000 per ounce, so it is vry painful to see it get contaminated before it is depleted and also very costly when any is wasted. Rhodium can plate ''dark'' when it is dirty. Someone doing the work might miss seeing it has become off colored, so I''d suggest you show it to the jeweler and ask for it to be re-plated. Shouldn''t be a big deal for them to do.

I was halfway through typing this when I remembered to look at the replies. This is likely the cause.

 

[Skippy123]

Wow, you are right; that picture is worth 1,000 words. Too bad you took it in and they didn''t redo it properly. I am sure they will fix it. Your diamond is gorgeous though

 

[pyramid]

Ellen

It is probably the computer screen I am looking at because to me it has a yellowish tinge but you are saying darker and someone else said greyer. I just thought that because white gold has a yellow look and I know they sand off all the old rhodium and clean the original surface which was underneath it before replating that it was the white gold we were looking at.

Oldminer has probably told the reason though.

 

[Ellen]

starry, interesting, thanks. I''d love to see a pic or two of that sometime.

John, thanks anyway.

Skippy, hope it gets done right this time, and thankies.

Pyramid, in this pic, I see a mottling of yellow and dark grey. IRL, it just looks dark, kind of steely looking.

 

[belle]

ohmy

i really hope they get that fixed for you ellen.... and soon, without any hassle

keep us posted.

 

[Ellen]

Date: 5/14/2007 8:58:51 AM
Author: belle
ohmy

i really hope they get that fixed for you ellen.... and soon, without any hassle

keep us posted.

I know, sick looking isn''t it?

Thanks belle, will keep ya posted.

 

[belle]

Date: 5/14/2007 9:21:55 AM
Author: Ellen

Date: 5/14/2007 8:58:51 AM
Author: belle
ohmy

i really hope they get that fixed for you ellen.... and soon, without any hassle

keep us posted.

I know, sick looking isn''t it?

Thanks belle, will keep ya posted.

sick is a good word for it

sorry you have to deal with this

...but i am already envisioning an ultra shiney new ring that you will be taking a ton of new pics to share!

 

[Ellen]

Well belle, we''ll see.

I just took it in. He didn''t seem to see it. He said Rhodium was Rhodium, their wasn''t different mixes.

His suggestions were, redo it (I said if it''s going to come out the same, what''s the point? he agreed) or, take the Rhodium off. Hey! That''d look great.

I showed him pics of new and now, and told him I didn''t understand why it just didn''t look like it did when it was new. No answer/comment.

At this point, I was ready to take it back and make the treck to someone in St. Louis. I really didn''t feel like ME suggesting the Rhodium might be contaminated would go over, plus, I felt like HE should already know this, but he hadn''t said anything. As if reading my mind, he then said perhaps the Rhodium had been contaminated, it did happen, and we could try it again. THEN I felt a wee bit better, and said ok.

Am I confident it will look like it did? No. But I am mildly hopeful.



And this is just another reason I sent my OMC off.....

 

[surfgirl]

Ellen, I hope it comes back perfect! I was wondering, you''re talking about rhodium plating over white gold yes?

Has anyone heard of rhodium plating over platinum? I never had, but I''m buying an antique wedding band and the sides were dull so they were sending it off to be polished and she wanted to rhodium plate it so it would match my ering. My ring is plat. too but i thought they would just polish it, not plate over plat. Is this really done? Plate over plat., I mean...

 

[belle]

oh ellen!

that is exactly what i was hoping *not* to hear! gosh....
well, at least he did finally admit that the rhodium could have been contaminated and now there is that wee chance that it will come out even better than you could have ever expected. hopefully he will redeem himself and you won''t be put out any longer.

fingers double crossed!

 

[Cehrabehra]

Date: 5/14/2007 5:08:32 PM
Author: surfgirl
Ellen, I hope it comes back perfect! I was wondering, you''re talking about rhodium plating over white gold yes?

Has anyone heard of rhodium plating over platinum? I never had, but I''m buying an antique wedding band and the sides were dull so they were sending it off to be polished and she wanted to rhodium plate it so it would match my ering. My ring is plat. too but i thought they would just polish it, not plate over plat. Is this really done? Plate over plat., I mean...

yes, I''ve heard of people rhod plating plat because rhod is harder than plat and resists scratching more so it will hold the polish longer.... also, it is just a *wee* bit whiter than platinum from what I understand.

 

[surfgirl]

Thanks sara...I hadn''t heard that but the person I bought my wband from said she assumed they had plated my plat ering when they polished it up since it was very shiny and white so she wanted to make sure the wband matched in polish/shine/color so they''d wear at a similar rate. I didn''t realize my plat was plated. Live and learn!

 

[diamondseeker2006]

Date: 5/14/2007 5:30:45 PM
Author: Cehrabehra

Date: 5/14/2007 5:08:32 PM
Author: surfgirl
Ellen, I hope it comes back perfect! I was wondering, you''re talking about rhodium plating over white gold yes?

Has anyone heard of rhodium plating over platinum? I never had, but I''m buying an antique wedding band and the sides were dull so they were sending it off to be polished and she wanted to rhodium plate it so it would match my ering. My ring is plat. too but i thought they would just polish it, not plate over plat. Is this really done? Plate over plat., I mean...

yes, I''ve heard of people rhod plating plat because rhod is harder than plat and resists scratching more so it will hold the polish longer.... also, it is just a *wee* bit whiter than platinum from what I understand.

Yes, I have heard of it, too. It keeps the ring from turning gray so fast, too.

 

[Ellen]

surfgirl, thanks. And yes, my ring is WG.

belle, it''s funny, what he said at first is exactly what I expected to hear. Hopefully it comes back ok now....Keep those fingers crossed.

 

[immi]

I''m very interested in hearing how it went, Ellen. And am hoping the best for you! I have a rhodium plated white gold ring too...and when I first got the ring, it hadn''t been plated. (?) So, while I was at the jeweler a woman behind the counter made the comment "oh, yes, we plate all of our white gold" and I said ...so, why wasn''t mine plated then? She stuttered a little, tried to say it was because it was 14K not 18K - whatever. I really hate when jewelry people give you BS answers you KNOW are wrong. Then, they charged me $60 for it! This is all after they talked my fiance out of getting platinum because "white gold is JUST as good". ARGHHHH!!!

Why would they argue with you? You are the one that stares at that ring ALL day long, and they are going to tell you they "don''t see it" ? What the #*!! I hate the feeling of walking on eggshells around my jeweler and am done being nice! Now,(2 weeks later) I notice the part where my prongs meet the ring are a white gold color and the rest of the ring is rhodium colored, great, here I go again...

How hard is it to do a professional job for someone dishing out thousands of dollars for your business?

....sorry...had to vent a little, I guess...

 

[Ellen]

Oh immi, lol, vent away.

I've come to the conclusion, if it wasn't for bad luck, I wouldn't have any luck at all, with the jewelers I've tried around here.

I know good, honest, competant jewelers exist, I've spoken with, and bought from some. I just don't have the luxury of visiting them in person, they're all too far away.


I'm sorry your experience didn't go well, but it doesn't really surprise me. If you only knew what I went through to get where I am, well, you might not believe me. lol I have been to 8 jewelers now, and I've yet to find one that holds a candle to my online people.

I hope things look up for you, and if they don't, keep searching til you find what you need.

And I'll post when I get the ring back.

 

[:)]

Wow - El have they re-rhodiumed it yet in the ''clean'' bath? It shouldn''t take that long - are they waiting to get in a new shipment to make a new bath?

 

[Ellen]

Date: 5/16/2007 1:57:14 PM
Author:
Wow - El have they re-rhodiumed it yet in the ''clean'' bath? It shouldn''t take that long - are they waiting to get in a new shipment to make a new bath?

He said it would be done sometime this week, so, I''m just sitting here twiddling my thumbs.

 

[Ellen]

belle, thought I''d answer you in here. No word yet...

So, about the collage, which occurred to me. How does one do that?

 

[Ellen]

 

[cinnamon013]

I see they fixed it!!! Looks awesome.