On March 22, 2021, an ounce of rhodium hit a record $30,000. Across the US, catalytic converter thefts were climbing right along with it.
The same metal gives your silver ring its shine. Rhodium is the most important jewelry metal almost nobody talks about. It's on white gold, on a lot of good silver jewelry, and on every .925 sterling silver ring we make. Here's what it is, and why it's there.
A metal named after a rose
Rhodium was discovered in 1803 by the British chemist William Hyde Wollaston, who named it after rhodon, Greek for rose, for the reddish salt he made it from, according to Los Alamos National Laboratory. The metal itself is hard, shiny and silvery-white. It belongs to the platinum family, alongside platinum and palladium.
It's also scarce. The world produces only around 20 tons of rhodium a year, Los Alamos notes, and about 85% of it goes into catalytic converters. For comparison, the world mined roughly 3,300 tons of gold in 2025.
It slumped after that 2021 peak, then climbed back with the rest of the precious metals. In October 2026, dealers were quoting it around $9,000 an ounce, roughly twice the price of gold. In 1979, when Guinness wanted to honor Paul McCartney as the best-selling songwriter of all time, it gave him a rhodium-plated record. A platinum one would have been ordinary.
Why jewelers reach for it
Metallurgist Christopher Corti, writing for the World Gold Council, sums it up: "Rhodium is a platinum group metal with a good white colour and is hard and tarnish resistant." It's extremely hard, and it's usually plated thin, around half a micron, because thicker layers build up stress and eventually crack.
Here's a secret of the fine jewelry counter: white gold on its own often isn't very white. Rhodium is "often used to give a good white colour to white gold jewellery (which is often not a good white colour)," as Corti puts it. That crisp white you see on so many white gold rings is rhodium.
On sterling, rhodium does two jobs. It brightens the silver, and it protects it. "If sterling silver is plated with rhodium, it will be less likely to tarnish," GIA notes.
Rhodium is the most important jewelry metal almost nobody talks about.
What that means for your ring
Our sterling silver rings are solid .925 sterling, finished in rhodium like fine white gold, as our materials page says. Underneath is real sterling: 92.5% silver, with a little copper alloyed in for strength, like all sterling. On top is a fine-jewelry finish that makes it brighter and slows tarnish. Like any plating, rhodium wears gradually over the years at the spots that rub most, and the solid silver underneath is still a precious metal all the way through.
Martini, $89, sets an emerald-cut crystal between tiny side stones on a slim sterling band: the white-metal classic, in a version you can wear on a Tuesday.
Watch Link, $95, is built like a watch bracelet, with pavé set into some of the links. All that polished metal is where rhodium's shine shows most.
Pixie, $99, hangs a star and a moon from a hoop link, next to a pavé link.
“I’m in LOVE with this ring! It is so shiny and so unique!”
Rhodium's dark side
Rhodium comes in black, too. Our Black Gold finish is black rhodium. On rings, it goes over the same layered build as our Heavy Gold+ rings, silver barrier and protective seal included.
It's having a moment. "Designers are embracing the moodier elegance of black rhodium plating," Liberty London jewelry buyer Nombulelo Makombe told Marie Claire UK in December 2025. Monroe, $69, sets a mystic topaz heart in a Black Gold bezel. Style it with other Black Gold. It doesn't need anything else.
The short version
Next time someone compliments the shine on your silver ring, you can tell them the truth. It's wearing something rarer than gold.
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Martini Sterling Silver Ring
Watch Link Sterling Silver Ring
Pixie Sterling Silver Ring
Monroe Black Gold RingQuestions about rhodium plating
What is rhodium plating?
Rhodium plating is a thin layer of rhodium, a hard, white metal from the platinum family, applied to jewelry. It's used on white gold and sterling silver to give a brighter white color and make silver less likely to tarnish.
Is rhodium more expensive than gold?
Usually, though its price swings widely. Rhodium hit a record $30,000 an ounce in 2021, and in October 2026 it was trading around $9,000 an ounce, roughly twice the price of gold.
Does rhodium-plated sterling silver tarnish?
It's less likely to tarnish than bare sterling. Over years of wear, the rhodium can thin at high-friction spots, and the silver underneath can then tarnish there like any sterling.
Is Oomiay's sterling silver plated with rhodium?
Yes. Oomiay's sterling silver rings are solid .925 sterling silver, finished in rhodium like fine white gold, for a brighter shine and tarnish protection.
What is black rhodium?
Black rhodium is a dark rhodium-based plating. Oomiay's Black Gold finish is black rhodium, and on rings it goes over a silver barrier with a protective seal.
Wink Sterling Silver Ring
Galaxy Sterling Silver Ring
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