|
NOTE: White gold is
composed of gold and white colored metals such as
nickel and palladium.
Because this mixture of metals does not look as white,
clean and crisp as platinum (when cleaned), white gold
jewelry is often coated with a
platinum-like substance (member of the platinum family) called
rhodium, to give
it a flawless beauty appearance comparable to platinum jewelry at much less than
the cost of platinum.
White gold
jewelry no longer contains nickel because it has been found to be unsafe against
the wearer's skin.
Jewelers now seal yellow gold with a white rhodium
coating to give yellow gold jewelry the crisp appearance of real platinum.
The rhodium plating process seals the jewelry
metal from being in contact with oxygen. Some jewelers are also putting rhodium
on platinum jewelry to keep platinum from becoming dull. Platinum jewelry does
get dull and rhodium is better than having your platinum buffed, but why cover
your beautiful platinum with rhodium when rhodium itself will eventually become
very dull. We have a precious metals polishing cream that will keep your
platinum looking like new platinum every day. Tell your jeweler about Radiance 2000
and how you keep your crisp platinum - always looking like crisp platinum.
The layer of polish on rhodium will wear off in time and the yellow coloring
will slowly emerge. Though it will never truly turn into yellow gold, it is
still recommended to have your gold jewelry re-rhodiumed every three months to
once a year to maintain it's best color and shine.
The quality of
rhodium plating process can vary greatly. Applying only one coat of rhodium
plating can make the rhodium finish become dull rather quickly with ordinary
wear. Radiance 2000 makes platinum jewelry metals look rich and beautiful and
it will not remove the rhodium plating if the rhodium has been put on with two
coats or with one coat of nickel - followed by one coat of rhodium. The plating
on plating seems to enhance the plating process.
White gold, yellow gold, titanium and platinum jewelry actually look their very best after they
have been cleaned with Gemcare's Radiance 2000 Tarnish Remover. Underneath the
dull tarnish on jewelry metals lies the jeweler's original buffed finish and
shine. Keep your precious jewelry metals looking like new by removing the
accumulated tarnish on the finish. Many customers need to have their rings
re-plated with rhodium every three months.
|