Why fake white gold, why not pure Rhodium Settings

[perry]

The white of white gold is really Rhodium plate, and even some platinum is Rhodium plated. Platinum does oxidize into a grayer color, and you can either plate it, and replate it, or polish it every year or so to keep it white.

Rhodium is a Platinum group metal. A quick look at its properties indicates that it is not excessively brittle and it is readily available).

Why does not someone start making settings out of "pure" Rhodium. It could be stamped in the same fashion as Platinum (i.e 950 Rh would be at least 95% pure Rhodium).

It would never need replating (as white gold does every couple of years), and it would stay "whiter" than platinum and not need routine polishing.

I believe that there is a huge opening here for some creative jewlers since several companies have recently introduced Titanium, and even Tungston - neither of which can have traditional stone settings (and neither of which I would use for an engangment ring).

A similar question could be asked about some other Platinum group metals; however, Rhodium seems to be a shoe in as it is already the material that is used to plate white gold and platinum jewlery.

 

[MichelleCarmen]

deleted now that the experts have given the answer

 

[perry]

In todays world - Rhodium in its base metal form would be less expensive than Platinum, once you factor in the density differences.

I will grant you that in the early 1900's when Platinum was first used for jewlery that they may not have perfected the methods of processing Rhodium - and that it was in fact very expensive back then. However, wasn't that half the argument for the use of Platinum in Jewlery (to have something made from a "prescious" metal)

Fridays prices:

Platinum @ $842 per ounce

Rhodium @ $1140 per ounce

Gold @ $407 per ounce

Rhodium is about 60% the density of Platinum (very similar to the density of 14k gold), thus you would only use 60% by weight that you used of the platinum.

Using Friday's prices, you would have $684 dollars of Rhodium in settings for every $842 in Platimum

A better comparison is that 14k gold would have $237 of gold per ounce (58% x $407 per ounce) at Fridays prices. Thus a Rhodium ring would be about 2.9 times the cost of a 14k ring.

The above facts assume that rings are only prices on base metals. In fact, they are also priced on production cost and artistry.

My local jewler has been very honest with me and held up a simple 18k gold solatair, 6 prong, mounting and told me that the ring only cost him about $100.

If I am going to spend $4,000 to $8000 on a nice rock; why would I be concerned about spending several hundred on a nice setting that would never need maintenance (or even a thousand for a nicely designed ring).

I think that pure Rhodium settings would be reasonably priced, and might even be less than the cost of Platinum settings. Are there perhaps some market self interest here in that perhaps the reason Rhodium settings don't exist is that the white gold and platinum ring market would cease to exist?

 

[oldminer]

Platinum is rhodium plated to make it shiny and bright white temporarily, but not because platinum "oxidizes". Platinum and the other platinum group metals don't oxidize. For that matter pure gold and pure silver don't oxidize under normal situations, either. It is the alloy used in silver and gold which oxidize. ALso with goldm the solder used generally is a different color than the other metal around it so rhodium masks solder seams.

The alloys used in platinum generally do not oxidize either, so rhodium is just a color plating, not to hide oxidation.

 

[Hest88]

Good question and fascinating answers.

 

[perry]

Thanks all.

However, I doubt that it is to brittle to work at room temperatures because the most common form of Rhoduim sold is in the wire form.

The wire form of rhodium is obviously extruded at normal metal working temperatures (otherwise the extrusion dies would fail) and coiled at room temperature.

Perry

 

[perry]

Thanks for the information. When I first thought of it and found out that Rhodium was normally sold as wire at about $1000/oz I could not resist asking.

One of the problems with white gold is that after the Rhodium wears of it is kinda yellow (perhaps a good match for a J+ diamond). The other is that most white gold contains Nickle, and many people have Nickle sensitivities.

Of course, there is quite the list of other possible metals out there (yeh, I'm always looking for alternatives).

In my case, "she" hasn't said yes yet (we are talking) but I have already decided to stick to 18K gold, probably a Dvatche Royal Crown or 3 stone truffle.

I will leave my other questions for later, as I will be gone for most of the next 1.5 weeks.