Usually it is iridium not rhodium in platinum jewelery. Iridium adds further corrosion resistance, but most importantly, it cheapens and hardens the metal. Iridium is very hard, and the most chemically inert of all metals...if it were as useful as platinum, it'd be many times its price as iridium is very rare.
Rhodium is mainly used in plating when a bright white finish instead of that gray silver of platinum is wanted. It's a fairly tough metal, also corrosion resistant.
Easiest way for me to tell if something is platinum is by heating it...white gold will haze, Pt will not oxidize even when molten. Or look for a hallmark, probably Pt950 or Pt 900 with the balance being iridium.
Are you serious about pawnbrokers selling Pt for the price of gold?!? Damn!! I'd like to hear more about this. Please explain...