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Rhodium plating disappeared ...

2007

I am a retail jeweller with a situation which was inexplicable, and was hoping for some help with reasons why the following may have happened :

An 18k white gold ring was rhodium plated and 5 days later the client returns with the ring and we observed the following : the bottom half of the ring (outside only) as well as the bezel setting around the centre solitaire stone were perfectly polished (no signs of abrasion) but the rhodium was not there exposing as usual a yellowish tinge from the white gold alloy!

How may this have happened? What household chemical substances may remove rhodium plating?

Chris Loupis
retail jeweller - Athens, Greece

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Hello Chris,
One of the great things about Rhodium is that it is extremely resistant to chemical attack. I doubt very much if the problem is due to the customer's use of any household chemicals. The plating was probably so thin in places, that it wore off the ring prematurely.

Mark Baker
Process Engineer - Syracuse, New York
2007