While many customers appreciate the value of rhodium plating (some call it dipping) and might ask for it, they may still have questions about its purpose and how to care for rhodium plated jewelry. Here’s what you should know about Rhodium plating.
Rhodium is a very precious metal that can cost ten times as much as gold or more! Although Rhodium is generally not considered a feasible material to make jewelry from, because it is very difficult to "work" properly for jewelry making, and its price is very high, Rhodium is great as a plating for jewelry because it is glitteringly, dazzlingly, white and mirror-like. It's like chrome, but much whiter, and one of the most reflective of metals.
Pure gold is naturally yellow and no matter what combination of white metals are used in the alloy to bleach it (nickel, palladium, silver, manganese, or zinc) the result is never as intense as naturally white metals. Rhodium has a reflective silvery sheen that brightens white gold items. Most jewelry manufactures use Rhodium to plate the majority of their white gold items.
