14k White gold rhodium plating

Yes it does. High points at first. Many have items like rings redone a few times a year.

It wears off, but rhodium is an extremely hard coating, a member of the platinum family, and that's why white gold is plated with it. White gold itself is not shiny..nor is platinum...platinum is also rhodium plated, from what I understand. White gold is made of different metals alloyed with gold but it isn't yellow in its unplated form...it's a dull, matte gray. You can have rings and other white gold jewelry replated with rhodium, but like I said, it's very durable and with regular wear should last quite a while before replating is required.

On 8/29/2014 3-M said:

White gold itself is not shiny..nor is platinum...platinum is also rhodium plated, from what I understand. White gold is made of different metals alloyed with gold but it isn't yellow in its unplated form...it's a dull, matte gray.

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I guess you haven't seen white gold casting grains in person. Everything you said is untrue. White gold polishes just like yellow gold and many women never replate their white gold after the initial plating wears off. The white gold has a slight golden tinge, that is all.

http://www.stuller.com/apps/images/kbpdfs/x1.pdf

Rhodium plating on gold will wear off over time. How quickly depends upon the quality of the original plating process, and that varies. If the underlying gold is alloyed white gold, then you might not see much of a difference. The jewelry won't look as shiny, but it will still be white metal.

But, if the underlying gold was yellow gold, then when the rhodium wears off, you will see a yellow metal. Not all 'white gold' jewelry is really alloyed white gold. Less expensive items are often yellow gold that has been plated with rhodium to look like white gold. And it's often difficult to find out when you buy an item. Many jewelry and department stores don't know and don't even understand the question.