Does white gold change colour?

Much of the white gold sold today is plated with a very white metal called rhodium. The plating is used to make white gold "whiter." This started after platinum came back onto the market a few years ago, so manufactures of white gold could compete with the whiter look of platinum.

White gold is a mixture of pure yellow gold and other white metals which are added to whiten the colour, but the colour is never perfectly white. It usually appears slightly off white compared to platinum, so manufactures have opted to plate most of their products to make the colour look better (can be debated).

Over time, a ring or wedding band may look like it is turning yellowish on the bottom because the rhodium plate will wear off. While this can be upsetting, the item can be re-plated again, or polished to remove the rest of the plating.

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