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White gold..... philosophically pointless?

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echelon6

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This has always intrigued me:

If white gold looks like what it is solely because of its Rhodium plating, why bother with having white gold in the first place??

In theory, a ring made of poop, plated with rhodium would look just as nice.
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Is there any science behind having white gold under rhodium at all? e.g. is someone going to argue that "electroplating rhodium only works on an alloy containing gold!"?

I''m no chemist, but I contend that electroplating rhodium works just as well with iron, or just about anything else, with minor, unnoticeable differences in chemical suitability of the mix. And I also argue that gold - rhodium is a sub-optimal mix anyway, since rhodium is a member of the platinum group.

Conclusion? is there''s no point to white gold other than the emotional / "knowing you''re wearing gold" factor?
 
Many people like the sentimental factor of still having gold wedding bands. I say if you want a white metal, get platinum.
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BUT that being said, many people want to spend as much as possible on the stone and then still want a "nice" metal too but don''t want to spring for platinum, so they go the white gold route to save $.

ALSO there is a pretty major color difference between white gold and platinum and some people greatly prefer the color of one or the other. Not to mention the fact that platinum gets a patina that some people really don''t like.

All comes down to personal preferences, and I disagree that rhodium would look the same on all metals. It looks quite different on YG and palladium for instance...
 
Platinum was expensive when I was looking so if you are on a budget it makes sense! Plating it is inexpensive. Also, people like the weight of gold so makes sense to me some want white gold.
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Date: 7/18/2007 9:05:55 AM
Author: neatfreak
Many people like the sentimental factor of still having gold wedding bands. I say if you want a white metal, get platinum.
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BUT that being said, many people want to spend as much as possible on the stone and then still want a 'nice' metal too but don't want to spring for platinum, so they go the white gold route to save $.

ALSO there is a pretty major color difference between white gold and platinum and some people greatly prefer the color of one or the other. Not to mention the fact that platinum gets a patina that some people really don't like.

All comes down to personal preferences, and I disagree that rhodium would look the same on all metals. It looks quite different on YG and palladium for instance...
I've had some yellow gold pieces rhodium-plated, and they look identical to white gold pieces that are rhodium-plated. All you see is the rhodium.
 
Date: 7/18/2007 9:01:19 AM
Author:echelon6
This has always intrigued me:

If white gold looks like what it is solely because of its Rhodium plating, why bother with having white gold in the first place??

In theory, a ring made of poop, plated with rhodium would look just as nice.
37.gif


Is there any science behind having white gold under rhodium at all? e.g. is someone going to argue that ''electroplating rhodium only works on an alloy containing gold!''?

I''m no chemist, but I contend that electroplating rhodium works just as well with iron, or just about anything else, with minor, unnoticeable differences in chemical suitability of the mix. And I also argue that gold - rhodium is a sub-optimal mix anyway, since rhodium is a member of the platinum group.

Conclusion? is there''s no point to white gold other than the emotional / ''knowing you''re wearing gold'' factor?
No.... actually I am a true lover of UNPLATED white gold. Where platinum may be as water and yellow gold as butter, white gold (unplated) to me is of cream. It is really beautiful to me on its own, a very light shade of pale yellow that is gorgeous, especially when matte. Just want to lick it up I love it so much.... so your poop reference is disturbing!!!

Alas, this color is almost completely unappreciated in pursuit of WHTIE WHITE WHITE so they plate it... but when the plating wears off it is closer to that WHITE than say yellow gold would be....

And since I gave up on my white gold (still sobbing) for practical reasons (swimming) to platinum, I''m going to get it rhodium plated and go full hilt for WHITE WHITE WHITE lol
 
Date: 7/18/2007 9:01:19 AM
Author:echelon6

In theory, a ring made of poop, plated with rhodium would look just as nice.
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Yeah, until you went to wash your hands the first time... ick

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Seriously though, as Cehrabehra said, white gold does have a beauty all its own without rhodium plating.... it definitely should not be compared to poop.
 
Date: 7/18/2007 12:29:59 PM
Author: togal

I''ve had some yellow gold pieces rhodium-plated, and they look identical to white gold pieces that are rhodium-plated. All you see is the rhodium.
This is great to hear, as I''ve got a favorite pair of earrings that are in YG but I don''t wear it anymore. I was thinking of having them dipped, so now I definitely will.
 
It''s not about the white, it''s about the precious metal. I guess you could make the same philosophical arguement about diamonds too.
Honey will you marry me? As a sign of my affection, I''m giving you this piece of glass set in rhodium plated poo. Philosophically speaking, it''s the same as a diamond ring.
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A palladium white gold has none of the drawbacks of nickel-based white gold, and does not need to be rhodium plated to be silvery-white. It''s supposedly more "gray" than platinum, but when I hold my plat RHR next to my palladium white gold, non-plated, wedding set, I really can''t tell the difference.

There''s also some sort of 19K white gold that supposedly doesn''t need plating. A year or so ago we had a brief discussion about it, and at the time it was more easily available in Canada than the U.S. Don''t know if that''s changed or not, or whether we found out anything more about it.
 
There are some ring designs for which white gold is better due to its hardness. This is one. It holds it''s shape & polish better in WG than in platinum. (stone''s not set)

SANS.jpg
 
Date: 7/18/2007 2:28:40 PM
Author: whatmeworry
It's not about the white, it's about the precious metal. I guess you could make the same philosophical arguement about diamonds too.

Honey will you marry me? As a sign of my affection, I'm giving you this piece of glass set in rhodium plated poo. Philosophically speaking, it's the same as a diamond ring.

Holy Cow that's funny!
 
Date: 7/18/2007 9:01:19 AM
Author:echelon6
This has always intrigued me:

If white gold looks like what it is solely because of its Rhodium plating, why bother with having white gold in the first place??

In theory, a ring made of poop, plated with rhodium would look just as nice.
37.gif


Is there any science behind having white gold under rhodium at all? e.g. is someone going to argue that 'electroplating rhodium only works on an alloy containing gold!'?

I'm no chemist, but I contend that electroplating rhodium works just as well with iron, or just about anything else, with minor, unnoticeable differences in chemical suitability of the mix. And I also argue that gold - rhodium is a sub-optimal mix anyway, since rhodium is a member of the platinum group.

Conclusion? is there's no point to white gold other than the emotional / 'knowing you're wearing gold' factor?
I have an ideal cut CZ to sell you. Looks fab on the IS pics. Conclusion? There's no point to a natural diamond other than the emotion/"knowing you're wearing a real diamond" factor?" Philosophically speaking, of course
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so white gold is stronger than platinum? I am looking for a solatair pendant, and am wondering if a white gold chain would make more sense if it''s sturdier
 
I am not too sure how it works but it is not harder per say, but it is less malleable, however at exactly what pressure platinum bends Versus what pressure White gold breaks I am not sure. Maybe JQ can chime in. Here is a PS article if you are interested in learning a little more about metal options kiss:

PS Journal Article

And what it says about hardness:

Durability = PSI

Tensile strength, or durability is measured in pounds per square inch.

Comparisons

* 18K Gold = 125 HV…29,000 PSI
* Pt900/Ir = 110HV…55,000 PSI
* Pt950/Ir = 80HV…40,000 PSI
* Pt950/Ru = 130HV…66,000 PSI
* Pt950/Co = 135HV…64,000 PSI

thus I would say that for a chain without intricate work it is probably hands down in favor of the strength of platinum, though I guess if somebody wanted to grab your chain and break it it wouldn't really matter which metal it was.
 
I have also had YG rhodium plated, and you cannot tell the difference between that and white gold.

And I have a beautiful white gold ring with my kids'' birthstones...it is not rhodium plated. It came that way, and it looks great that way!

Er...there is a HUGE difference between a poop ring and a gold ring
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Date: 7/18/2007 10:53:24 PM
Author: Diamond*Dana



Er...there is a HUGE difference between a poop ring and a gold ring
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Yea, you should have said like, silver ring rhodium plated, then as the rhodium wears off it still looks very white, and it would be indiscernible to the naked eye as white gold rhodium plated. Then, because it was whiter underneath she would not take it to the jewelers to be re-plated for a LONG time and you could probably pull it off in secret if that was really something you wanted to do...
 
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