White Gold
Also: white gold, or blanc
White gold is a gold alloy blended with white metals such as palladium, nickel or silver to give it its distinctive silvery-white tone.
White gold is not a distinct metal at all — it is a gold alloy created by melting pure gold (fine gold 999) together with one or more white metals until the mixture shifts to a silvery-white hue. How much gold goes into the blend fixes the carat fineness and, read against the day's gold price, the material value of the finished piece. Across Western Europe it is now the go-to metal for engagement and wedding rings.
What Goes Into It and the Main Alloy Systems
Broadly, two systems dominate:
| Alloy type | White metal(s) | Typical fineness | Rhodium plating needed? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Palladium white gold | Palladium (8–13 %), silver | 750 (18 ct) | No / optional |
| Nickel white gold | Nickel (8–14 %), copper, zinc | 585 (14 ct) or 750 | Yes (standard) |
| Palladium-nickel mix | Pd + Ni + Cu | 750 | Usually yes |
Palladium white gold — sometimes labelled "nickel-free" — is the premium option: palladium lends the alloy an inherent whiteness and sits well with sensitive skin. Its drawback is cost, since palladium is one of the platinum group metals and trades in its own right on the precious-metals exchange.
Nickel white gold is the more economical to make, yet nickel can spark contact allergies in susceptible wearers. The EU Nickel Directive (94/27/EC, now carried over into REACH Annex XVII) caps nickel release from jewellery at 0.5 µg/cm²/week. That is precisely why nickel white gold pieces are, as a rule, rhodium-plated these days.
The Rhodium Layer
Since not one white gold alloy manages, on its own, the brilliant white shine of platinum or silver, the great majority of white gold jewellery gets a fine rhodium coating — the process called rhodium plating. As the brightest and hardest of the platinum group metals, rhodium yields a mirror-like, scratch-resistant finish.
That rhodium film usually runs to just 0.05–0.5 µm. Everyday wear rubs it away, so having a jeweller refresh it every one to three years is the norm.
Fineness and Hallmarks
750 white gold = 750 ‰ gold = 18 carat (75.0 % Au)
585 white gold = 585 ‰ gold = 14 carat (58.5 % Au)
375 white gold = 375 ‰ gold = 9 carat (37.5 % Au)
Across the EU, gold jewellery has to show its fineness as a hallmark (say, "750" or "18K"). You can establish the real gold content from the current gold price and the melt value calculator — a handy anchor point whether you are buying or offloading scrap gold.
Telling It Apart from Lookalikes
- Platinum: white by nature, heavier (roughly 21.4 g/cm³), pricier, and needs no rhodium coat.
- Silver: silvery-white but holds no gold, costs a good deal less, and dulls over time (tarnishing).
- Nickel silver: despite the name, contains no silver — it is a copper-nickel-zinc alloy.
- White gold, by contrast, is genuine gold jewellery through and through, with a set gold content and matching material value.
Material Value and Selling On
Sell white gold jewellery and only the gold fraction gets paid for — the alloying metals (palladium, nickel, silver) usually count for little in the purchase price, since so little of them is present. The melt value calculator gives the theoretical metal worth in seconds, while the palladium price reflects the going rate for palladium alloys.
Note: This entry serves factual information and does not constitute tax or investment advice.
In Brief
White gold is yellow gold with white metals stirred in — palladium or nickel, as a rule — and it always wears a fineness hallmark (750, 585 and so on). For most alloys that trademark silvery-white gloss comes only from an applied rhodium layer, which thins with wear and can be laid on afresh.