rhodium plating over yellow gold?

[mingagreen]

Hello all, I am wondering about rhodium over yellow gold. I have 2 yellow gold rings that were given to me by my Grandmother, one her diamond wedding band and another a huge aqua marine/ diamond ring, and I love both and want to wear them but they are yellow gold and I prefer white gold. Can I have these rings "dipped" without compramising the rings? Or do you think I should leave them as is? Will having the "dipped" hurt them at all? Thank you all for your time.

 

[lmurden]

I have never heard of that before.

 

[denverappraiser]

Rhodium plating is easy and fairly effective. The only real problem is that as you wear the ring, the high points will wear through the rhodium and it will be yellow underneith. Sort of like wearing off a layer of paint. This gets pretty ugly and you will need to redo the rhodium every now and then. I would not recommend this process for a ring that you are planning to wear often for this reason.

The process will not damage your rings. If you decide that you don't like it, there is a reverse process called 'stripping' that can take it off.

Neil Beaty, GG ISA
Independent Appraisals in Denver

 

[mingagreen]

Thank you for your help, they would be rings that I wore on occassion, esp the aquamarine ring, it is rather large!! Anyone know the average cost of having this done?

 

[mingagreen]

So Dave, if I have it nickle plated before rodium, would I still be able to "strip" it if I wanted? The reason I ask is b/c the Diamond wedding band will be given to my daughter at some piont and if she isn't a fan of white gold I would want to be able to get it back to yellow gold! She is only 17 months so I have years of wearing it myself! I just hate to let a beautiful ring sit around for 20 years because I don't like yellow gold! Thanks

 

[Carmel]

Sometimes I like to complicate things for myself, and wonder why no one pointed out the significantly obvious to me along the way . . . and your situation sounds a lot like what I’d be exploring if I where in your shoes. Have you considered, however, the simple solution of just having the stones remounted in new white gold settings? Granted, you have sentimental reasons to want to keep them in their original state, but after all is said and done (sizing, nickel plating followed by rhodium plating, and myriad other considerations), the expense of these processes might even exceed the cost of new mountings. Perhaps what you’re looking for is just sitting on a shelf somewhere, and in a blink of an eye, it could be on your finger.

 

[hoorray]

I have dipped a yellow gold omega chain on a necklace. It cost about $75, and from afar, it looks fine. Next to my other "white" jewelery, it still has a pretty strong yellow tinge. I was also told by the jeweler that it won't last. Since it's a necklace, it doesn't get knocked around, so it's ok for now. I would not think a ring would survive very well.

I did it as an experiment. I'll probably replace the chain one of these days, as this is definately not an ideal solution. If I were you, I would really consider resetting the rings and keeping the original settings in case you or your daughter decide you want to go back to the original.