Why does white gold "change colour"?

“WHITE GOLD” is a misnomer, gold is actually yellow in colour.  In order to obtain a white or grey colour, other metals such as nickel, silver and palladium are added to bleach the yellow gold to a white colour.  Rhodium is then plated on the jewellery to give the very bright white finish.  The amount of the bleaching metals vary according to health requirements, method of manufacture and cost of manufacture.

Nickle is an effective bleaching metal, but only relatively small amounts may be used with gold.  A large number of people develop an allergic reaction (excema) if the nickle content is too high.  The nickel alloys that are unlikely to cause the allergic reaction have a slight yellow tinge.  The jewellery is therefore then plated for the bright white finish.  The colour of the rhodium plated jewellery may change when the rhodium plating wears away. 

Maintenance of your jewellery is important.  When the bright white rhodium plating has worn off your jewellery, we can repolish the piece and rhodium plate it again.