How do you tell the difference between white gold and silver?

Hi, krystalhunny69!

From my understanding, silver will tarnish, but even the alloyed gold doesn't. So, that might be one way to tell.

Thanks!

Also silver is softer than white gold. So I can usually tell by giving rings a bit of a squeeze. What jewellery item is it?

If you look on the metal there will be markings if its 925 it is silver, 950 platinum and 375 9ct gold or 750 its 18ct gold. There are other markings as well and depending on carat of gold may be different. Silver is very soft and scratches, it tarnishes but you can get silver cleaner and it will bring the silver up sparkling again, White gold however is still fairly soft nowhere near as soft as silver. Downside to white gold is its naturally a pale yellow and they use something called Rhodium to plate it a nice white colour, this will wear off after time. Depends on your skin type as too how long and what you do, like wash up, keep on all time, hand creams. Can be anywhere from a few weeks to 1-2 years. It has a lot of maintenance to it if you want it to keep its just bought look and can be fairly costly. This is not a fault with the gold though so hence why you won't ever get it done free unless as a gesture of goodwill. Also if it has scratches on it it can be difficult to cover them when plating. If you want less hastle the only pure white metal is platinum or palladium. Platinum is very expensive and you should only wear metals of the same type together as platinum if worn against white gold will wear it down as its so hard. Palladium is cheaper but harder to find as isn't hallmarked yet and so is cheaper at the moment, but it can't be altered at all as it makes the metal brittle if altered after its been manufactured. Another downside for silver is you'le only get semi precious stones in as its too soft to hold something like a diamond securely. Hope that helps.

White Gold has marking of karat weight on the inner side.

White Gold has a bright shine while Silver is appears slightly gray.

Gold takes longer time to tarnish while silver will tarnish quickly, although for silver tarnishing may take 4-5 years.

White gold is darker

What if there is an italy engrave on it.. is there an italian white gold

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Originally Posted by virus06

what if there is an italy engrave on it.. is there an italian white gold

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Yes there is Italian white gold, If it is marked Italy, it will probably be marked with 3 numbers somewhere, usually close to the Italy, 925 is sterling, 585 is 14K, 750 is 18K. It can be complicated to go by color alone because jewelry items are often plated over the metal, Silver and white gold are plated with rhodium. Rhodium on silver prevents tarnish. White gold is not really that white, the major constituent is pure gold, which is yellow, so it is normal to plate white gold with rhodium to make the jewelry appear whiter. Rhodium is a wonderful material, it wears extremely well and gives the jewelry a consistent white color.

When gold is mixed with a white metal, say palladium or nickel, the alloy is called white gold. This camouflages the yellowish hue of gold, giving it an off-white appearance. Some gold jewelry pieces are plated with rhodium, which is often mistaken for white gold.
While white gold appears similar to silver, the alloy is harder than silver, and an affordable alternative.