What kind of metal do you prefer for your pearl findings?

[Pearl Dreams]

est190, I tried to PM you but don't seem to have any way to send you a message.

 

[Amanda]

I agree, but all white gold is rhodium plated. White gold is not actually white, but more of an egg shell. Rhodium plating is necessary for white gold to be white.

I think that might just be where you are?

Rhodium plating is the exception rather than the rule in the white gold I know well. My grandmother's 18 carat white gold necklace, from the late 1920s, for example, is a gold, silver and palladium alloy, not a hint of rhodium in sight. My own white gold bracelet, which is 9 carat, isn't rhodium plated either.

I think you can also mix gold with silver and a bit of other stuff, what the Greeks used to call Electrum.

I've also read (some time ago, I think) about using tin to whiten white gold alloys, but I wouldn't swear to it.

For my sister's 21st birthday, she was given a necklace including 18 carat white gold. The written bumf that came with it states:

"Technical Information

Alloy Composition: 75.1% Gold, 3% Silver, 13.9% Palladium, Copper & Zinc"

Later it goes on to say:

"This piece has not been plated with rhodium, and does not require rhodium plating, owing to the alloy used, offering an improved white colour when compared to traditional high palladium white alloys"

 

[jshepherd]

I guess I should change my post from "all" to "nearly all."

I once met a dealer at JCK that was marketing a new brand called something like "true white." The only product he had were stud earrings for diamonds. I've never seen anything like it elsewhere.

The findings used by companies in the US (non-custom) are, as I understand it, all rhodium plated (Grassman, Stuller, KGH, WHH, etc). Sometimes they arrive without the rhodium and the color is slightly off - not a bright white, which is typically expected in white gold. These then have to be rhodium plated before they can be used.

I do think it is important to note that non-rhodium is the exception to the rule and not common.

 

[est190]

est190, I tried to PM you but don't seem to have any way to send you a message.

Oops. It wasn't enabled, but now it is.

 

[est190]

A. jones, That's unusual because they use a lot of nickel, zinc and silver in the US. That sounds like a lot of palladium which is more expensive than gold--at least I think so. With gold prices exceeding platinum, that could be different today. I don't recall seeing non-plated white gold in any jewelry store in memory.

 

[Amanda]

Fair enough - sounds as if there is a significant difference between the UK and the USA in this respect.

We don't have more than trace amounts nickel in jewellary at all here, it's not allowed. Too many people react badly to it, so it's verboten.

Amanda

 

[Amanda]

The findings used by companies in the US (non-custom) are, as I understand it, all rhodium plated (Grassman, Stuller, KGH, WHH, etc). Sometimes they arrive without the rhodium and the color is slightly off - not a bright white, which is typically expected in white gold. These then have to be rhodium plated before they can be used.

I do think it is important to note that non-rhodium is the exception to the rule and not common.

For you, not us here in the UK, I think.

http://www.cooksongold.com

This is one of the biggest suppliers in London of findings etc - and some of their white gold isn't plated, but non-nickel alloys:



http://portalgc.knowledgebase.net/display/2/kb/article.aspx?aid=235926&n=1&docid=150376

They have also developed a "whiteness scale" for white gold.

http://portalgc.knowledgebase.net/display/2/kb/article.aspx?aid=235983&n=1&docid=150395

 

[Pearl Dreams]

Oops. It wasn't enabled, but now it is.

Nope, still can't message you.

 

[est190]

Nope, still can't message you.

Hopefully it's working now.

 

[pearlescence]

We've had the nickel debate before - it is banned by European Union law.
In the UK we have to abide by the rules for precious metal mixes and proportions which are in the various Hallmarking Acts (for details just follow the big logo/notice bottom left on my website). I'm not sure what Goldsmith's Hall would make of an electrum mix - I'll email them to ask

 

[Unusual Pearls]

I prefer 18kt gold but with the price of gold so high will use 14kt gold. My customers all want gold. Alot of people allergic to silver.

 

[Sea Urchin]

I like 14k yellow gold. Yellow gold looks better on me than white metals, and I like my metals to match. Also, I don't like having to polish silver. I would not buy vermeil because I've had gold plating wear off too many times. I am not crazy about the tone of rose gold or other gold tones, or the brighter yellow of high carat yellow gold. So, my first pick would be 14k yellow.

 

[Amanda]

I don't think very many people are allergic to silver - more likely, they are allergic to the non-silver elements used in the alloy?

 

[Pearl Dreams]

Yes, it's generally the nickel that is the culprit.

 

[Joyful Grow]

It hard to say. Different color of pearls match different metal. White pearl with silver or Pu. Golden with gold....

 

[pearlescence]

We tend to forget, Amanda, that nickel has been banned for findings,jewellery and even bra wires throughout the EU for some years now. As I understand it it is still allowed in America,but in my experience, repultable Chinese and Indian findings manufacturers have removed it from their products

 

[Pearl Dreams]

Wendy, it would be great if the US would follow that standard.