|
In less time than it takes to say "I do" at a Vegas chapel, we had the answer to your question, thanks to the Yahoo! search box. We typed "white gold" and clicked on the Web Pages link in the horizontal navigation bar at the top of the search results page. The first link, titled "white gold vs. platinum," engaged our attention. This information page from Gillett's Jewellers, based on Australia's Gold Coast, taught us that white gold is an alloy of gold mixed with white metals such as nickel, silver, and palladium. Like yellow gold, white gold glitters in a variety of carats: 18ct,
14ct, or 9ct. Eighteen-carat white gold consists of 75% gold mixed with 25% white metals. New white gold rings are usually coated with a hard protective finish of rhodium, a silver-white metal like platinum. To keep a white gold ring looking its best, Gillett's recommends an annual replating of rhodium, since the coating wears off over time. Platinum, an entirely different element than gold, is a white metal that is denser, heavier, and longer-wearing than gold. It's usually used in almost pure form and does not require a protective coating. Platinum is quite expensive, a platinum ring is perhaps twice the price of a similar ring made in white gold. Most of our subsequent search results pointed to various online vendors of white gold and other jewelry. Scanning down the page we
came across a link to more white gold information from Amulet, a British jeweler. The author describes variations of the alloy known as white gold: 9-carat white gold consists of 3 parts gold to 5 parts silver, 18-carat is made with palladium. Adding nickel to a white gold/silver alloy can produce good color and hardness, but nickel is allergenic, and produces skin reactions in approximately 20% of the population. Amulet's color swatch is well worth a visit: it uses web browser colors to approximate the differences between the various metals and alloys used by jewelers.
|
