Joseph Schubach Jewelers Blog » General Jewelry Info » Rhodium, The World’s Rarest Metal
You may or may not be aware of this extremely rare metal from the platinum family, but chances are you own some of the metal which was recently priced at $10,000/ounce. Rhodium is used in the fine jewelry finishing process. White gold jewelry is plated with rhodium to give it a bright white color (remember, all gold starts out as pure, or 24kt, which is extremely yellow. It’s only after alloying the gold that it gets its white(er) color). Rhodium is also used in catalytic converters in automobiles.
This informative article give some history and insight into rhodium, along with palladium which is another platinum family metal used in jewelry making. It highlights the extremely volatile price of the metal which has seen a greater than tenfold increase in recent years when rhodium reached its peak price of $10,000/oz in 2008. It also explains its extreme scarcity and increasing demand. Click here for the full article. To see examples and additional information on palladium and other metals, visit our Metals section of our blog by clicking here.
