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Ted Mooney, P.E. RET
Pine Beach, NJ
The authoritative public forum
for Metal Finishing since 1989
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Did I get ripped off on rhodium replating?
2007
Hello all, so glad I found this site.
Basically I have a white gold chain, which started to dull a bit, so I took it to be rhodium plated. (I bought the chain second hand so I don't know how long its been since it was last plated)
Anyway, the jeweller made a estimate of £125 to plate it. But he did this by just looking at the chain and asking how much it weighed.
The chain weighed 59.5 grams, and was 30 inches long. After it was plated it came back the same length but only weighted 58.7 grams. Odd? or is that due to them stripping off the old rhodium?
Anyway...today I went to a few other highstreet jewelers (h samuel etc) and they told me they can do it for £30-60. Did I get screwed over by the little jewelers?
It came back nice...very shiny, although it has a slight plasticy feel now. Here is a picture of the chain BEFORE it was plated...I'll try get one of it now its been plated.
Any help is appreciated guys... I think I got screwed over.
Customer - London
2007
Although that seems like a substantial weight loss, scraping 0.8 gram of mid-carat white gold off a necklace for the gold value seems an unlikely crime. More likely there was dirt in the links and weight loss due to polishing which together totaled 0.8 grams.
$250 US sounds to me a little high, but not outrageous for a top quality job. Ask the £30-60 folks what thickness of rhodium they would deposit; odds are they have absolutely no idea.
Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
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