Rhodium plating platinum?

Jewelry Discussion
21 
I still belive the best solution is to use materials that don't
require plating but you obviously have a different view of the
process and strive for a high quality plating job. To each his
own.

There are opinions and there are facts. There were two posts relating
the experience of two people that deal with many customers who
purchase rhodium plated white gold. I have years of experience. I am
the owner of my business and have quite a lot to lose if I have an
unhappy customer.

There are “jewelers” who don’t know what they are doing. As one that
does, and consider myself of high integrity and honesty, I would not
do something that I though would be shoddy.

I believe that if you were serving the customers I am, you would do
what I do or you would lose these customers. Out of the options they
have, one that actually is a standard in this industry, is that if
they cannot afford platinum, and they want white, rhodium is the
answer. It is not a problem, it is an answer.

I know my customers, I do see the repeat customers that come in for
retipping, cleaning, polishing. I have actually polished deep
scratches in rings and not gone through the rhodium. Because some
people are not knowledge able is not a reason to be so adament about
discrediting a process you do not need to use in your business.

For those of you who have your negative experience or concept of the
process, please understand there are people of integrity and
honestly that give our customers knowledge, and use our skill to
produce a beautiful, durable, and cherished piece of jewelry that
will be passed down as keepsakes.

The negative posts about rhodium bothered me and I started putting
time and energy into trying to be spotlessly esoterically precise,
and prejudiced, against the use of rhodium and meet the standard of
the posters that were so moral about their stand.

I tried using precise white nickel, and had porosity, miscasts and
started taking up too much time with the learning curve. Time and
money I cannot afford, to end up with other negatives that I believe
was a trade down from using rhodium.

It’s probably quite nice to be “right”. I get a lot of referrals,
and I am quite clear that my customers trust me and are very happy
with the jewelry they get from me.

Just to be clear, I made a diamond ring, 1.5 ct princess center with
2 1/3 ct trilliant side stones, in white gold ($12,000). I saw the
ring recently, after a year to tighten the stone. It is still
beautiful, and I am proud of the work I did, and the plating was
intact.

At Las Vegas JCK show, I saw one of your competitors mokume work,
and I could see the solder pit porosity without magnification on his
pieces, between laminates. could not in good conscience sell his
work in my store. That looks shoddy, and there is no rhodium. Just
poor craftsman ship.

Sorry for the rant, perhaps I take it too personal, I feel attacked,
indirectly, but none the less…

I am glad to report, yesterday was the start of the Season of Mass
Buying and Consumption (that I am so thankful) for and we did great
Friday and Saturday after a dismal depressing November that was down
from 03 by $5000.

Richard in Denver

22

James B. and all !

Some time ago I had a client ask me to “Rhodium” plate yellow gold.
I told him that it would eventually wear off under ‘normal’ daily use
and the colouring would be a ’ bit off '! He said his own client just
wanted the look of white gold…then my client criticised my
"professional independent, sub-contractors" plating results. I
refused to do it myself ! I knew the results.

I also told him that the final results would not appear as if it WAS
white gold to start with. An old adage “The customer is always
right, no matter how wrong they are!”…duh!..Gerry!

23

Gold. For thousands of years man has changed the color by adding
other metals so that it becomes a desirable color or has desirable
attributes. Royal Yellow, Pink, Rose, White. Oh yes what of White?
White gold the brittle bitch. Of all the jewelry metals that I have
ever used, Nickel White gold is the one I like the least. Over the
years these colors become industry standards, basically what the
consumer expects and wants. If you polish out the nicks and scratches
on that item time and time again the color of the alloy is not going
to change (other than patina of that alloyed metal which can be
removed with polishing). Selling items as Karat white gold that are
made from metal that is not what the consumer would consider white
and having an “Applied” surface that will not stand up to normal wear
and gives a false impression of the true color of the metal or metals
that the item is made of is in my opinion "An unfair trade practice"
or as we like to say down here in the south “shoving down the
consumers throat what we think we cannot change about mass produced
lines of jewelry”. We as the trusted experts in the jewelry industry
are failing our customers by selling them falsely colored jewelry
items under the misnomer of White gold or worse, we convince them
that this is just as good. It’s not just that casting nickel white
alloys are against the law in our European countries. The true reason
we all see as much “Off-Colored White” Karat jewelry as we do is
because these alloys are a better metal for casting. Defect rates go
down porosity is all but eliminated incomplete casting trees are
rare. it all boils down to dollars. If you are a jewelry repair
person and you work on white gold you will need a plating setup! that
is the simple truth of it and the guys who are paying your salary are
the ones who just want the money. Maybe the reason that this was able
to happen at all was due to poor understanding of jewelry design and
materials by the jewelry store owners. What would you do if one of
the lines you carried started setting diamonds in silver in many of
the pieces? It’s a very popular line. Millions of women wear it
daily. They are already selling Fashion jewelry because it’s silver.
Ok it’s designer fashion jewelry so it’s worth more, but diamonds set
in silver??? Rhodium plated though.

24

Richard,

    Sorry for the rant, perhaps I take it too personal,  I feel
attacked, indirectly, but none the less....

I was in no way attacking you personally in fact I stated that your
practices sound good. I also stated that my position on rhodium
plating is a belief not a fact and I will again say to each his own.

    At Las Vegas JCK show, I saw one of your competitors mokume
work, and I could see the solder pit porosity without magnification
on his pieces, between laminates.  could not in good conscience
sell his work in my store. That looks shoddy, and there is no
rhodium. Just poor craftsman ship.

I am not sure how you think this relates to me? Are you trying to
say that if someone else makes a product that is poorly crafted that
somehow my work is poorly crafted? And what does that have to do
with rhodium plating?

Regards
Jim Binnion

James Binnion Metal Arts
Phone (360) 756-6550
Toll Free (877) 408 7287
Fax (360) 756-2160

@James_Binnion
Member of the Better Business Bureau

25 
 They are already selling Fashion jewelry because it's silver. Ok
it's designer fashion jewelry so it's worth more, but diamonds set
in silver??? Rhodium plated though.

Yep, sounds like a waste of good silver to me, but then I never have
thought that diamonds were worthy of all the attention they are
given.

Lee Einer
Dos Manos Jewelry
http://www.dosmanosjewelry.com

26

Michael,

I am not a fan of white gold but I must add my thoughts on why this
is an important metal.

First off I must respond to your comment concerning nickel white
gold being against the law in Europe. My understanding is that it is
against the law because of health concerns and not because you are
cheating someone.

White gold using an alloy of nickel and palladium was created in
Germany and first patented in the United States in 1915. There was
a very good reason for this metal at that time and there still is
today as long as you disclose all facts to the customer. There are
many people in the world that would love to own a Rolls Royce but
drive a VW for this very reason. Not everyone can afford a piece of
Platinum jewelry. For these people maybe only white gold will work.

If we offer choices to people and Disclose - Disclose - Disclose the
facts, I believe they are capable of making intelligent decisions.

Greg DeMark
email: greg@demarkjewelry.com
Website: www.demarkjewelry.com

27 
as we like to say down here in the south "shoving down the
consumers throat what we think we cannot change about mass
produced lines of jewelry".

Being from the south I can’t say I ever heard that one, but you did
hit on one good point in your post, MONEY. What ever sells do it.
Now there is an ethical way, explaining and teaching a customer
about the pros and cons of what ever, I’m not just talking about
plating here it does not matter what is in question. Then on the
other hand you could just flat out lie to the customer to get their
money and get them out the door which some of our jewelry kin have
elected to do. So to plate or not to plate, that IS NOT the
question, the real question is are you the jewelers as ethical in
your salesmanship as you are in your craftmanship?

It's not just that casting nickel white alloys are against the law
in our European countries. The true reason we all see as much
"Off-Colored White" Karat jewelry as we do is because these alloys
are a better metal for casting. Defect rates go down porosity is
all but eliminated incomplete casting trees are rare. it all boils
down to dollars.

And that’s not the true reason, but it is a good one. The high
nickel whites are against the law in Europe because the high nickel
concentration is not too good for you, and can cause some bad side
effects (Nickel Dermitits)hence the ban. If you do require the
white use the palladium alloys, its a bit more expensive, but it is
much more workable and should not have to be plated. The true reason
is because many are not willing to drop the extra dime and get
quality product, when they can get it cheep and plate it.

P.S. If you plate platinum, hand up your hack saw, burn your bench,
and work at Mc Donald’s.