Materials & Hallmarks

What is White Gold ?

Gold in its raw and refined form is yellow. The colour of gold can be made whiter with such elements as silver, nickel and palladium. The extent of the whitening will depend on the relative quantities of these elements. Palladium is the most effective whitener and is the one most often used by Tivon Fine Jewellery in its jewellery. A Rhodium plating is then used in order to give a perfectly white colour. Both Rhodium & Palladium are part of the Platinum family of precious metals with the former being the most expensive metal in the world. Various factors such as time, extent of wear, an individual's body chemical composition, may have the result of wearing away the Rhodium plating thus resulting in the white gold being exposed.

Various factors such as time, extent of wear, an individual's body chemical composition, may have the result of wearing away the rhodium plating thus resulting in the white gold being exposed. The white gold may appear to have a slightly yellowish tinge which is the alloy colour. What is required is a new rhodium plating to bring new life and vigour to your precious jewellery. This is a relatively inexpensive process and can be performed by any reputable fine jeweller but preferably one of our official dealers.

Please note that the wearing away of the rhodium plating does not in any way diminish the fineness of the gold i.e. if it is an 18ct gold ring, nothing will change this fact. This fact is confirmed by the testing of the item's fineness by the London Assay Office (see below) which provides the hallmark. While Tivon Fine Jewellery takes great care to ensure that all aspects of its jewellery adhere to the highest levels of quality and that all items purchased and delivered to its customers are delivered free of defects, the wearing away of the rhodium plating over time due to natural factors (listed above) is considered to be inevitable and does not constitute a defect, latent or otherwise.