The original colour of the gold is orange-yellow. However, jewelry made from gold has many colours; Yellow, White, Rose, Green, and grey. Out of all these colours, the two most commonly worn and preferred colours are White and Yellow.
Both Colours(Yellow and White) of gold are equally loved, if there wasn’t a value difference it would have been hard for us to pick one.
One of the two options is slightly expensive, therefore, the least-expensive option is more commonly used.
The least expensive option is believed to be yellow gold. In this brief post, I would try to highlight whether white gold is “actually” more expensive than Yellow gold. Moreover, I would shed light on the factors that make one of the two options more expensive;
Yes, white gold is more expensive than yellow gold. It is a major reason why yellow gold is more common than white gold. Yellow gold is not cheap either however, it is comparatively cheaper than White gold.
What Makes White Gold More Expensive than Yellow Gold?
The design does not make the White gold expensive. There are some other factors that add to the price of gold. These factors are
- Combination of metals
- The colour
- Demand
- Manufacturing process
- Rhodium Plating
Combination of metals
According to studies, Pure gold is not durable enough to be used in jewelry. Therefore, it is combined with a few metals to increase its strength and give it a certain colour.
The more expensive the metals are combined with the gold, the more costly it becomes. Usually, pure gold is mixed with zinc, nickel, and copper to turn it into white gold.
The zinc, nickel, and copper are slightly more expensive than the metals added in the yellow gold. So, the price of white gold remains higher than yellow gold.
One thing that you should not forget here is that the more gold a piece of jewelry contains, the more costly it would be.
If a piece of yellow gold has more gold than metal and a piece of white gold has less gold and more other metals, the piece of yellow gold would be expensive.
The colour
The white gold, more or less, has the same colour as platinum. Platinum is more expensive than white gold.
The white gold and the platinum have the same colour, the white gold jewelry looks as magnificent as the Platinum one. This makes this White gold a bit expensive.
Demand
Keeping the white and yellow gold case aside, we all know the more demand the higher the price.
The same is the case with white gold. Yellow gold is not as in demand as white gold, therefore the insane demand has added up to the white gold price.
Manufacturing process
The more labor-intensive a job would be, the higher the labor cost would be. The labor cost is relevant therefore while determining the price it is added to the gold’s price.
The mixing and finishing of the white gold are slightly difficult and more labor extensive than the yellow gold. It makes white gold more expensive than yellow gold.
Rhodium Plating
What adds more to the cost of white gold than anything else is the rhodium plating. The white gold needs rhodium plating whereas the yellow gold does not.
The rhodium plating is a compulsory part of the white gold manufacturing process, it gives the gold durability and the gleam. Since yellow gold does not go through this process, it remains cheaper than white gold.