White Gold: Composition and Jewelry Buyback Prices

While the natural color of gold is yellow, the precious metal used in jewelry can also be white. In recent years,white gold has become as popular as rose gold. It is a symbol of timeless elegance and refinement, particularly in the jewelry sector.
Its hue is ideal for diamond- and sapphire-set rings, engagement rings such as solitaires, and wedding bands.
For more general information on this precious metal, please consult our gold glossary.

What is White Gold?

Also known as white gold,white gold is rhodium-plated to give it a color closer to white. However, the rhodium layer wears away over time, resulting in yellowing. In this case, rhodium plating and polishing are all that's needed to bring out the brilliant white color.

Composition of White Gold

Unlike pure gold, it's composed of different metals. It's an alloy of fine gold with other precious and non-precious metals to give it the same hue asrose gold. The common perception is that white gold is half yellow gold and half silver.

Here are a few examples of well-known white gold alloys:

20 carats (833/1000): 83.3% pure Gold + 16.7% Palladium
18 carats (750/1000): 75% pure gold + 18.5% silver + 1% copper + 5.5% zinc
14 carats (583/1000): 58.3% pure Gold + 17% Silver + 17% Copper + 7.7% Zinc
9 carats (375/1000): 37.5% pure Gold + 62.5% Silver

However,white gold alloys, apart from their pure gold content, are made according to certain habits that can vary according to the jeweler, the goldsmith, the dies, the period of manufacture and the result expected by the jeweler. In fact, the composition of some white golds does not even include these two elements.

Some white golds contain palladium, silver, copper, zinc and nickel. However, the latter is now banned as a source of allergy.

The only information available on a piece of jewelry will be the carat gold, 9, 14 or 18 carats, which tells you the proportion of pure gold in the jewel.

French and international law is very strict when it comes to respecting the gold content announced by a jewel's hallmark. Yet nothing is done to provide information on the exact composition of the alloy.

Some gold alloys tend to give a white color, a bright light gray or gray tint tending toward golden yellow, while others give it a whiteness tending toward a more pronounced gray color.

Prix de l'Or Blanc

When we talk about intrinsic value, taking into account the quantity of precious metal, the price of white gold is the same as that of yellow gold or any other gold color. So, just like other shades, the value of a white gold jewel for gold depends mainly on its total weight and its gold content indicated by the gold carat or thousandths of gold.

However, white gold jewelry is highly appreciated for its color, brilliance and aesthetic appeal.

Thus, the value of a piece of gold jewelry is relatively subjective, depending solely on its beauty and not on the precious metal contained in the alloy. There are different ways of assessing the price. You can consult the price in jewelry stores, which is often higher than the equivalent in yellow gold because it is in greater demand.

How to recognize it?

Recognizing a white gold object is done in the same way as for objects of any other hue.
It is possible to authenticate gold and its purity by applying gold-testing methods or by inspecting the gold hallmark.