White Gold Guide: Quality, Durability and Value

What Is White Gold Made Of?

White gold is made out of yellow gold mixed with other metals, which are added to make the alloy harder and whiter.

The additional metals used in white gold are usually palladium, silver, zinc, copper, and nickel.

Even when mixed with whiter metals, white gold still retains a yellowish hue.

That’s why white gold jewelry is usually covered with a thin layer of rhodium, which gives the white gold alloy its characteristic metallic luster. The rhodium plating also adds additional strength and hardness to the piece it is applied to.

Durability of White Gold Jewelry

White gold can be quite durable, but you should keep in mind that its hardness also depends on the material’s purity (i.e., its karat). Alloys that contain more gold as a percentage (i.e., higher-karat ones) tend to be softer than those that have a higher percentage of additional metals.

The rhodium plating commonly found on white gold jewelry protects the actual gold alloy from scratches. However, this plating itself scratches and does wear off after some time depending on how often the jewelry is worn, and the only way to restore the rhodium layer is to have the piece replated by a jeweler.

What Determines the Quality of White Gold Jewelry?

The quality characteristic most often used to evaluate white gold is its karat.

This unit of measurement has the same meaning as when used to evaluate yellow gold – it indicates the alloy’s purity, and more specifically, the proportion of gold to other metals in the mix.

In general, since gold is not cheap, the higher the karat of white gold, the more expensive it is per gram.

Another quality indicator for white gold can be its nickel content – some people prefer gold alloys that do not contain this metal since it can cause rashes in people allergic to it.

If you think you might have such an allergy, make sure to ask whether the white gold you are considering is nickel free.

It is preferable if the rhodium plating on white gold is thicker, as a very thin coating will tend to wear off quickly, exposing the yellowish layer beneath. When that happens, you can have your white gold jewelry replated for a fee.

Determining the Karats of White Gold

To determine the karat of white gold jewelry, you can either look at its hallmarks or have it tested for purity in case there are no marks.

Karat Marks for White Gold Jewelry

The karat stamps on white gold are easy to interpret. The karat number is usually followed by letters such as K or KT.

For example, 18KT stamped on a white gold ring means that it is 18 karats, which also means that it contains 75% pure gold.

Parts-per-thousand marks are also used, and they denote how many thousandths of the gold alloy are actually pure gold.

For example, if you see a white gold piece marked with the number 750 instead of a karat number, this means that every 1000 units of the alloy contain 750 units of gold.

Dividing a parts-per-thousand number by 10 will give you its percentage equivalent. Thus, the 750 mark mentioned above denotes 75% gold content, which is equal to 18 karats, as we already saw earlier.

Multiplying a parts-per-thousand number by 0.024 will convert it to its karat equivalent. So, if you see marks such as 417, 583, or 917, you can easily calculate that they actually translate to 10 karats, 14 karats, and 22 karats, respectively.

Karat Testing for White Gold

White gold can be tested for purity with nitric acid. If you buy a gold testing kit, you can do the testing at home.

The kit will contain bottles with nitric acid with karat labels on them – each label indicates the purity of the alloy that the solution is prepared to identify.

This is how the testing process works:

1. You will need to scratch your white gold jewelry on the surface of the testing slab included in the kit. The scratching should leave a visible gold mark on the stone.

Make sure you press hard enough so that you get through the rhodium plating to the actual gold alloy underneath. Don’t rub your jewelry in a place that is readily visible!

2. Take the acid bottle with the lowest karat label – e.g., the one that says “10 karats.” Pour some acid on the gold mark and observe whether there is a reaction.

3. If the gold trace loses its color and dissolves, the jewelry’s karat number is less than what is written on the label of the bottle.

4. If the mark changes its color only slightly but does not disappear, then its karat is very close or equal to what the bottle label says.

5. If the color of the mark does not change, then its purity is above the karat label number, and you should try a higher-karat bottle until you get a reaction.

Make sure to read the instructions accompanying the gold testing kit carefully before proceeding!

You can also go to a jewelry store and ask to have your white gold tested there. The jeweler will most likely use the same method as the one described above to find out the karat of your white gold.

White Gold vs. Yellow Gold

Choosing between white and yellow gold is a matter of personal preference. Do keep in mind, however, that white gold jewelry needs to be replated after a certain period, which usually ranges from 1 to 3 years.

Nevertheless, gemstone settings made of white gold tend to be more durable compared with yellow gold ones of the same karat.

If you are going to have stones set in your gold jewelry, consider their color when deciding between white and yellow gold. For example, colorless diamonds are best set in white settings, which do not cast any additional color flashes on the white stone.

However, if your diamond is of a lower color grade, the stone may have yellowish hues, which will become even more prominent when set in white gold.

In such cases, it is best to choose yellow gold as it will make the yellow tints less visible by causing the white in the diamond to stand out.

Can You Turn Yellow Gold into White Gold?

We already know that white gold is plated with rhodium, but it can also be used to coat yellow gold and make it look white. So, if you take your gold ring or another piece to a jeweler, you can have it plated with rhodium for a fee. Turning yellow gold white sound pretty easy, right? In reality, rhodium plating doesn’t always work out as hoped.

Problems with Rhodium Plating

The biggest issue with rhodium plating is that you never know whether it will stick to the surface of the jewelry.

Whether a piece of jewelry could be plated depends a lot on the exact contents of the alloy used to make it. Some yellow gold alloys just don’t work out, and it is hard to tell beforehand how successful the plating process will be.

Another problem is that the plating may not stick in the crevices of the jewelry. In such a case, the piece may need to be plated again. This problem could be exacerbated if the jewelry has an intricate design, with ornaments or other shapes that are hard to plate.

Can Rhodium Plating Be Removed?

So, what if you don’t like how your newly whitened gold looks? Can you get rid of the rhodium plating?

The answer is, “Yes.” You can always ask the jeweler to polish out the rhodium layer, and your jewelry will again be yellow.

Just make sure you don’t have it replated and polished too many times over as the polishing process may also wear down the yellow gold layer.

How to Prevent Your White Gold from Turning Yellow

Rhodium plating might be good for giving white gold its color, but this coating is not eternal. Your jewelry is exposed to friction and stress every day, which wear it away. Eventually, the rhodium covering your white gold will also wear off, and the yellowish lower layer will become visible.

You can slow down this process by wearing your jewelry less often, but sooner or later your white gold will turn yellow.

The best way to preserve the color of your white gold jewelry, apart from not wearing it, is to have it replated. Replating is a procedure through which the jeweler adds a new layer of rhodium to your jewelry. The price you will pay for this service will depend on how worn out the original rhodium coating is and how thick the new layer will be.

Related: Check out a collection of different white gold diamond rings here.

Don’t Polish Your White Gold Too Often

If your white gold jewelry has a lot of scratches, you may want to get rid of them by having it polished by a jeweler. However, keep in mind that this process actually involves removing a tiny layer of material from the surface of your jewelry.

If you have your white gold polished too often, all or part of its rhodium plating will also be removed, and it won’t be long before you will have to pay again to get your jewelry replated. As a general rule, you should have your white gold jewelry polished by a professional no more than once or twice a year.

White Gold and Nickel Allergies

Some white gold alloys contain nickel, which can cause a rash if it comes in contact with the skin of a person allergic to the metal. Typically, the rhodium plating covering white gold jewelry will prevent your skin from being exposed to nickel, but when the rhodium wears off, touching the underlying alloy may give you a rash if you are allergic.

One way to avoid allergic reactions is to have your white gold jewelry timely replated with rhodium when it starts to wears off. Another solution is to avoid nickel-containing white gold altogether. For example, alloys made only with gold, palladium and silver are not allergenic.