White Gold Engagement Rings

For Engagement Rings gold is the most traditional precious metal.
Gold is usually Yellow, Pink (Rose) or White.  People often mistake white gold with platinum, however they are two completely different metals.

In nature gold is yellow and not white, unlike platinum which is only white.
As white gold doesn’t exist in nature it’s made white with the mixture of some alloys with pure (24 karat) yellow gold, to make it white. 18 karat white gold is made in the same principle and alloy percentages as for 18 karat yellow gold but different alloys are used for white gold.

18 karat white gold will contain a mixture of alloys which total 25% and they will be melted with 75% pure gold. Once all melted together these alloys, despite being the minority will actually dominate in colour and permanently transform the mixed metals into 18 Karat white gold. For a lower karat gold, such as 9 karat and 14 karat it’s still the same principle but the mix contains more alloy and less pure gold. The other advantage of mixing an alloy is to harden the gold, making it more suitable to manufacture engagement rings and most types of jewellery.

18 karat is regarded as the best gold since it is hard enough to make quality engagement rings, yet it’s also a true gold as it’s content is 75% pure gold, so it has the real gold feel and luster. For a white gold engagement ring to look it’s best it is rhodium plated after it has been made and polished. The rhodium plating process enhances the appearance of the white gold, by making it whiter. It’s logical, as white gold after being polished can never look as white as platinum but instead it will be a pale white. The rhodium makes the white gold as white as platinum (and sometimes whiter) but it will eventually wear off, so a white gold engagement ring will always require rhodium plating every few months to every few years, depending on usage and quality of the rhodium plating. This is the reason why people that have a white gold engagement ring say that their engagement ring has changed colour, but in fact it hasn’t changed colour, it’s just that the rhodium plating has worn off and the paler colour of the white gold starts to show below the rhodium.