What is Rhodium Plating and Why Should I Do It?

To understand why one should care to rhodium plate their jewelry, we first must understand a few things about rhodium itself. Rhodium is a rare, silver to white metal, that comes from the platinum group in the periodic table. It is one of the most expensive metals, at almost twice the price of platinum and three to four times the cost of gold. Rhodium has an extremely high reflectivity and doesn't normally form an oxide, even when heated.

There are various reasons to rhodium plate our jewelry, especially wedding bands and rings.

Many times white gold is rhodium plated to enhance the reflectivity of the ring and make the diamonds look more brilliant. Because rhodium is a "noble metal" and inert, it withstands corrosion and makes jewelry more durable as well.

Most often jewelers will use a small amount of palladium or nickel to bleach yellow gold and turn it into "white gold." The issue arising here is that the white gold is more of a pale yellow than bright white. When the rhodium plating is applied, it makes the ring more attractive and reflective. This process is called electroplating and usually leaves a protective coating about the thickness of a micron on standard 14k white gold. The common term for this in the jewelery industry is rhodium flashing.

The rhodium plating will eventually wear off and should be reapplied every couple years. This will be evidenced on the portions of the ring that receive the most wear and start to look the pale yellow color instead of bright white. To prevent this, choose a jeweler that uses a brighter white gold to start with, and the contrast will be much less. Rhodium plating should be a free process from whatever jeweler you decide to purchase your ring from.

Written By: Wade Peterson