Old White Gold Versus New White Gold

Many people who are jewelry collectors and sadly some jewelers, do not realize that new white gold is not really white but a light yellow. Why you ask then is Old gold so white? well it is white because of the nickel in the gold content that was used back then. They no longer use nickel in white gold so it, when freshly done, appears yellow. When you see a ring that is all white but has a small amount of yellowish looking metal this means new gold has been used to repair the item. This is most noticable with platinum. Since Platinum melts at a much higher temp then gold, it is dangerous for the unskilled repair person to work on. You can destroy the diamond if you do not know what you are doing. A laser welder is usually used by highly detailed and talented jewelry repair people. Not everyone has one beacuse they are costly. Platinum is usually not used to repair a platinum ring, especially on old rings. So most resizing or re tipping is done using gold. Some people will tell you it is tarnish, and true as new white gold gets tarnished it yellows more, but Platinum does not tarnish, it dulls. so if you see yellow on a ring that is suppose to be white gold or platinum and the seller says no repairs have been done, make sure you inspect the item and test or have it tested as they are not familiar with jewelry enough to be selling it.