If you have read some articles on my blog, I mentioned that nickel is one of the white gold alloy components that can irritate the skin of a minority of people, therefore, it will be best if we can go for white gold with palladium instead. Both nickel and palladium serve as the whitening agent for white gold - White gold is just 75% gold, which is yellow in colour, to make it white, we need whitening agent.
Recently, I found that a number of jewellers are saying confidently that their white gold setting consists of palladium instead of nickel. However, it really makes me wonder how true is that? Of course, there is some solution that you can find online whereby you can test your jewelleries' white gold and see whether they contain nickel or not,
but that is provided that your jewellery is not coated with some sort of plating, if not, the solution can't touched the metal to test it accurately. Unfortunately, most white gold jewellery will have coating, and I was told that it is called rhodium plating. There are other types of plating as well, but rhodium seems to be the one that is more popular. However, when it comes to rhodium plating, a jeweller mentioned to me that it is not actually rhodium that is being plated, it is something else. So this adds on to more confusion... Okay! I will leave this topic for another day when I have more info. For now, let's focus on the plating.
Now, the reason I am focusing on plating is because this serves as a shield layer that protects your skin from the nickel content contain within the white gold. Assuming you are nickel-sensitive, this leaves a possibility that you are not reacting to nickel NOT BECAUSE the white gold does not contain any nickel, BUT BECAUSE there is a plating that is protecting you from it. Understand that any sort of plating on white gold jewellery will suffer from wear and tear, so once the layer has deteriorate, you may have the chance to react negatively to nickel - Again, this is assuming you are nickel-sensitive, which only affects a small group of people.
Why am I mentioning all these? This is because my gut feeling tells me that whenever a jeweller mention that they are using palladium in their white gold, NOT ALL OF THEM are using that, in fact they are just using nickel-based white gold. It is easy to pass it as the real deal since nobody bother to identify it contents and most, if not all buyers, will be able to find out without extensive research and work. Again, I am not saying all jewellers are like that, but MY GUT FEELING tells me that some are like that. Since this is a gut feeling, take it with a pinch of salt, but at the same time, do give it some thought and find your own reasoning. Another thing is that, some jewellers may even ask you to trade-in your existing old white gold jewellery, which can be nickel-based, even if they claim that they are using palladium white gold for their own jewellery. I doubt they will separate it out into 75% gold and other contents, but instead, I am guessing that they will be recycling the white gold in their own "palladium white gold" jewellery. If that's the case, so much for so-called "palladium white gold". Again, this is based on my own gut feeling, so take it with a pinch of salt.
How can I gain confidence that they are using palladium-based instead of nickel-based white gold? Well, first of all, if the website can confidently say that they are using it and explicitly stating it everywhere, such as this:
Then I am more incline to believe it. Whatever that is written on this website makes sense to me, so I am sold. In fact, the owner is so confident that the palladium-based white gold can be so white that no plating is required. It really makes me what to get one and have a look.
The owner of the above website has also written a easy to read article, which I recommend you guys to have a look:
Here is another good site that clearly states the components of its white gold. PD is Palladium:
At the end of the day, I will still say you won't be able to know what kind of white gold is used for your ring unless you remove the coating and test it out using the solution mentioned above. All you can do is to believe that the jeweller is using what they claim that they are using. But as far as Malaysia is concerned, unless I know the gold's origin, I will choose to believe that all white gold jewellery that can be found at a relatively cheap price contain nickel, and I will use that as the base to determine whether a particular jewellery is worth the price or not.
Recently, I found that a number of jewellers are saying confidently that their white gold setting consists of palladium instead of nickel. However, it really makes me wonder how true is that? Of course, there is some solution that you can find online whereby you can test your jewelleries' white gold and see whether they contain nickel or not,
 |
| https://nonickel.com/products/nickel-alert-nickel-test-kit |
but that is provided that your jewellery is not coated with some sort of plating, if not, the solution can't touched the metal to test it accurately. Unfortunately, most white gold jewellery will have coating, and I was told that it is called rhodium plating. There are other types of plating as well, but rhodium seems to be the one that is more popular. However, when it comes to rhodium plating, a jeweller mentioned to me that it is not actually rhodium that is being plated, it is something else. So this adds on to more confusion... Okay! I will leave this topic for another day when I have more info. For now, let's focus on the plating.
Now, the reason I am focusing on plating is because this serves as a shield layer that protects your skin from the nickel content contain within the white gold. Assuming you are nickel-sensitive, this leaves a possibility that you are not reacting to nickel NOT BECAUSE the white gold does not contain any nickel, BUT BECAUSE there is a plating that is protecting you from it. Understand that any sort of plating on white gold jewellery will suffer from wear and tear, so once the layer has deteriorate, you may have the chance to react negatively to nickel - Again, this is assuming you are nickel-sensitive, which only affects a small group of people.
Why am I mentioning all these? This is because my gut feeling tells me that whenever a jeweller mention that they are using palladium in their white gold, NOT ALL OF THEM are using that, in fact they are just using nickel-based white gold. It is easy to pass it as the real deal since nobody bother to identify it contents and most, if not all buyers, will be able to find out without extensive research and work. Again, I am not saying all jewellers are like that, but MY GUT FEELING tells me that some are like that. Since this is a gut feeling, take it with a pinch of salt, but at the same time, do give it some thought and find your own reasoning. Another thing is that, some jewellers may even ask you to trade-in your existing old white gold jewellery, which can be nickel-based, even if they claim that they are using palladium white gold for their own jewellery. I doubt they will separate it out into 75% gold and other contents, but instead, I am guessing that they will be recycling the white gold in their own "palladium white gold" jewellery. If that's the case, so much for so-called "palladium white gold". Again, this is based on my own gut feeling, so take it with a pinch of salt.
How can I gain confidence that they are using palladium-based instead of nickel-based white gold? Well, first of all, if the website can confidently say that they are using it and explicitly stating it everywhere, such as this:
 |
| https://alyshawhitfield.com/collections/wedding-bands/products/half-round-wedding-bands-4mm-customize-your-own |
Then I am more incline to believe it. Whatever that is written on this website makes sense to me, so I am sold. In fact, the owner is so confident that the palladium-based white gold can be so white that no plating is required. It really makes me what to get one and have a look.
The owner of the above website has also written a easy to read article, which I recommend you guys to have a look:
 | ||
| https://alyshawhitfield.com/blogs/awjblog/palladium-white-gold-jewelry-the-best-of-both-worlds |
Here is another good site that clearly states the components of its white gold. PD is Palladium:
 |
| https://www.carreracasting.com/services/casting/white-golds |
At the end of the day, I will still say you won't be able to know what kind of white gold is used for your ring unless you remove the coating and test it out using the solution mentioned above. All you can do is to believe that the jeweller is using what they claim that they are using. But as far as Malaysia is concerned, unless I know the gold's origin, I will choose to believe that all white gold jewellery that can be found at a relatively cheap price contain nickel, and I will use that as the base to determine whether a particular jewellery is worth the price or not.
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September 04, 2019
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