Description
A beautiful pair of Eisenberg Vintage earrings. These are clip earrings and are 1" long and 1/2" wide. This is a beautiful pair of quality costume earrings. Eisenberg is one of the premiere makers of jewelry prior to 1943, still today, called Eisenberg Ice since 1949, these pieces are being produced. Made from Fine Austrian Crystals. These pieces date to the 1940’s and are stunning pieces of jewelry.
Q. What is "rhodium" and what does it have to do with white gold jewelry?
The Materials Used In Eisenberg Jewelry
Only the highest quality of metals, plating, and brilliant Swarovski Austrian crystal rhinestones were used in the construction of these pieces that portrayed bold designs. Rhinestones, imported from Czechoslovakia and Austria were used specifically to add glitter and color to each piece. Mainly, Swarovski rhinestones were selected in white as well as in a small variety of colors.
Rhodium plate metal in a variety of colors was a popular material for the company to use in their pieces. The colors were coordinated with the colors of the rhinestones that were also included in the design. Favorite colors of the rhodium metals included rose, gold, silver, and copper.
Popular Eisenberg Designs and Jewelry Styles
In the early 40s, the company had favorite combinations of colors they preferred for their pieces. In particular, pink and turquoise, pink and purple, light and dark topaz, amethyst and turquoise, red and turquoise, aqua and ice blue, red and crystal were the favorite color combinations. A less frequent combination is one that would include a mix of colors.
A. Rhodium is a very precious metal that can cost ten times as much as gold or more! Rhodium is generally not considered a feasible material to make jewelry from, because it is stressed and brittle, very difficult to "work" properly for jewelry making, and it’s price is terribly volatile.
(About Rhodium price volatility: rhodium is never mined for its own self because it’s too rare for that to be feasible; rather, it’s a minor by-product from platinum mining & refining. So, when platinum is in high demand and a lot is being mined, a lot of rhodium is available, and its price can decline to about the same price as gold; but when platinum mining is down, rhodium is virtually unavailable and becomes fabulously costly (over $12,000 ounce at one point in 2011 when gold was well under $1,000 an ounce).
But rhodium is fabulous as a plating for jewelry because it is glitteringly, dazzlingly, white and mirror-like. It’s like chrome, but much whiter, and the most reflective of all metals.
Rhodium plating makes diamonds look bigger and better because it’s so bright that it glints like the diamonds. From a couple of feet away and under most lighting conditions it’s hard to see where the stones end and the metal begins. Nothing sets off diamonds like rhodium plating does. So most white gold jewelry today is rhodium plated. But the rhodium is only a plating and therefore it will wear off eventually and require re-plating.
