QuestionMy wife bought a piece of costume jewelry (a pendant depicting houses in St. John's NFLD on a 16" silver(?)chain.)
Question is "Does anyone do gold plating anymore?"
She loves the piece as it commemorates her homeland. Unfortunately it tarnishes big time.
Thank you for your time. Have a nice day.
AnswerEugene, if the item is silver a gold plate will be relatively easy to do.
You can call around to local jewelers and see if any of them do gold plating. Many will be doing rhodium plating which makes white gold whiter and makes yellow gold rings appear to be white gold until the plate wears away. Rhodium plating is a trend now to coincide with the popularity of white jewelry metals. I mention this so you will know what is going on if someone mentions rhodium to you. Rhodium will plate directly onto gold but not onto silver or some other metals. Local jewelers can rhodium plate gold but cannot do a reasonable and technically controlled rhodium plate on silver since two other layers are also needed, copper and nickel.
A local jeweler who does rhodium plating has the equipment to also do gold plate but may very well not have the gold chemical solution. The plate is generally only so so in durability and that is quite variable depending on the solution used and other factors. You might call around and ask and give a local a try, keeping in mind durability will not be the best overall. The best I can say is "good luck" in finding someone who will do the job at a retail business.
Quite honestly, for a really nice job you need a dedicated professional company who will provide a thicker than normal plate surface. (They have the means to know how thick the plate actually is.) This should last a fairly long time without a need to redo any time soon. I will recommend two companies to contact:
An excellent company. Will they do a single piece? You will need to e-mail them and ask.
http://www.redskyplating.com/
I have not used this company but it looks good.
http://www.artisanplating.com/
Eugene, I hope this works out for you and this loved jewelry item may be protected from tarnish.
God Bless and Peace. Thomas.
