Platinum vs White Gold??

[stone-cold11]

Not necessary that is wear, how do you know it was not design that thin to begin with?

Also, Pt setting cost more because it uses more pure metal than WG alloy, Pt alloy is usually 90-95% pure while 14k WG is 58% pure gold by weight. Add in the fact that spot prices for Pt is higher than Gold and Pt alloys generally uses other Pt Group alloys which is also traded at a high price, the higher price is really more because of material cost.

 

[yennyfire]

Thanks so much for the photos Stone and Kitten. They were really helpful! Kitten, you have the most gorgeous collection! I love the antique rings. Interestingly, I have one that was my grandmother's (my grandfather got it for her in Italy after WW2). It was made by an Italian jeweler for his wife (so the story goes). I happened to be wearing it when I went to NYC and met with Leon and he looked at it and said that he thinks it's silver and yellow gold, as platinum has only been around for 100 years or so. I had no idea about that, as the ring is sapphire and diamond with intricate carving (filigree?? I don't know the correct terms) and I always assumed that it was platinum....

 

[elle_chris]

Redhead-

My wedding band is platinum. It has a matte finish because I didn't want a shiny band. It also have pave one on side and I love the contrast.

Many people appreciate the patina that develops and never bother getting the piece re-polished. Many of us also love how heavy platinum is. Very substantial. Also, the purity of it. It's hypoallergenic, so the chances of developing an allergy (like what can happen with wearing nickel over the years) is very slim.

I don't believe they wear the same. Platinum gets displaced, white gold gets lost.
They also don't respond the same. A hard knock can break off a wg prong, with platinum, there's a better chance of it only bending.

And the bottom line is between wg and plat, platinum is a white metal. white gold is still yellow gold with different alloys. There's a chance it will yellow over time.

Regarding your friends ring, I think the way it's worn makes more of a difference than what metal it is. If she's really hard on her rings, it would of looked just as bad even if it were gold.

 

[Clairitek]

My last setting was platinum and I absolutely loathed the patina.

I give this more "word"s than a graduate student's thesis. Yuck. I can't imagine paying so much more for a metal that requires all that polishing to keep looking nice. Granted, someone upthread pointed out that you will replate more often than you have to repolish - so if you worked out the numbers over 50 years, it may be that WG is actually more expensive.

However, both will depend on your skin chemistry in terms of 'turning' the WG, and how fast patina bothers you. For me, WG turning is slow, and I hate the patina, so it's an easy choice.

It does sound a little bit like WG with palladium alloy might be the miracle metal - no replating, no allergies? Question on this though - I asked BGD about their WG palladium alloy, and they said it is NOT substantially whiter that WG-nickel. Thoughts?

Redhead- I get that you strongly dislike platinum, but the delivery of your opinion is bordering on rude. Many many PS members have platinum rings and love patina. I'm not expecting you to love it, or even like it, but using the word "yuck" to describe the way you feel about something that many of us have is not pleasant.


To the OP- I have a platinum ring. I too have horrible metal allergies but for some reason WG rings don't bother me. Earrings though, oh boy. Can't even think about sticking anything but platinum in there.

Anyway, I hemmed and hawed as well and decided to get platinum because I adore the heft. Not so much the price and it limited me coming wedding band purchase time because getting a platinum ring with diamonds in it was more than I wanted to spend. Elle-Chris is correct in saying that WG is more prone to breakage, whereas platinum may be more prone to a prong slipping. WG is a lot more brittle than platinum. I do love the fact that that I can be as rough as I want on my rings and know that all it takes to remove the mark is a trip to my jeweler. I only really get bothered my the patina after about 6 months of wear, and at that point its a time for a polish anyway.

 

[Laila619]

I like things as shiny and scratch-free as possible, so WG it is for me.

 

[redhead02]

Claritek, I must absolutely concede that you've got me there. I do hate on platinum, I can't deny it. But I should not have been so.negative about it. I am very, very sorry if it came out overly rude. I didn't mean to offend anyone, and had been trying to keep offering statements that concede on the strong points of platinum, like the possibly lower expense over time and whether the patina will actually bother the wearer. But if these did not temper the strong verbiage I used against Pt, I apologize again. I realize that many folks have platinum and love it, and I don't mean to suggest that I think less of them, or that they made a bad choice.

I mainly offered my comments because I often think WG gets an unnecessary bad rap, but I overdid it especially because that wasn't going on in this thread yet.

To the OP, definitely there are advantages to platinum that I may not have given enough shrift to. Especially the strength, an important consideration if you are going with a delicate prong design. I would offer that many styles are stable in WG as well - bezels come to mind.

 

[TruLuv858]

Thank you all for your help! There was TONS of useful information on this post, and I hope it will get added to the "useful threads" section, as I am sure many face a similar dilemma when shopping for a setting.

Clairitek- Funny thing about white gold- I can wear white gold rings ALL DAY LONG- but earrings bother me too?? Maybe because its more of an exposed area? Not sure? Interesting though...

I am sooo torn- but have decided to let my FF decide, and I think he is leaning towards platinum- we both love the weight of it. I used to HATE seeing a hue of yellow on my old ring- and while getting it replated would solve this problem, its not any different than the inconvenience of re-polishing platinum. It seems that either metal will require some degree of "up-keep"....

Thanks again Everyone!!!

 

[shihtzulover]

I chose platinum for my e-ring. I know that it also requires some upkeep, but I love the idea that you never lose any metal with platinum (it is just displaced). Also, although it will have to be re-polished a lot, I feel like I can get away with doing that less often than having white gold re-plated. The patina will probably bother me, but I think the yellowing of white gold would drive me even more crazy. Also, platinum is hypoallergenic, and even though I have never had a problem with white gold, I don't really want to risk it with such an important ring.

Although, on the other hand, I have heard that the speed of the yellowing of white gold depends on your body chemistry. I'm not totally sure about that, but I have been wearing a white gold ring almost every day for over eight months now, and I have not noticed any yellowing. I also have a 10k white gold class ring that I have been wearing for over eight years, and have not noticed any significant yellowing (maybe just a tiny bit on the bottom of the band, but I can only notice if I really look at it) that would cause me to have it re-plated. I'm not sure how different 10k gold is from the other varieties though.

I guess it's all just a matter of personal preference.

 

[Clairitek]

Claritek, I must absolutely concede that you've got me there. I do hate on platinum, I can't deny it. But I should not have been so.negative about it. I am very, very sorry if it came out overly rude. I didn't mean to offend anyone, and had been trying to keep offering statements that concede on the strong points of platinum, like the possibly lower expense over time and whether the patina will actually bother the wearer. But if these did not temper the strong verbiage I used against Pt, I apologize again. I realize that many folks have platinum and love it, and I don't mean to suggest that I think less of them, or that they made a bad choice.

I mainly offered my comments because I often think WG gets an unnecessary bad rap, but I overdid it especially because that wasn't going on in this thread yet.

To the OP, definitely there are advantages to platinum that I may not have given enough shrift to. Especially the strength, an important consideration if you are going with a delicate prong design. I would offer that many styles are stable in WG as well - bezels come to mind.

Water under the bridge, Redhead. Thanks for apologizing. I'm oversensitive these days due to work stress but I felt compelled to post. I'm sorry for making you feel so bad about it. I agree with you that the fact that platinum is sometime marketed as a more "rich" or "high end" material. Sure, it is more expensive but I'd hate to see someone purchasing jewelry be pushed on their budget merely because the salesperson convinces them that its worth the increase in "status" to have a platinum ring. I do get why having the virtually instantaneous decrease in high polish finish with platinum would be aggravating when plated WG stays shiny for such a long time. Rhodium is one hard metal, for sure.

You do bring up a very good point when it comes to cost- which is cheaper over the lifetime of the ring? For example, a WG wedding band identical to my platinum one would probably only cost $150. My platinum one cost $270. I have yet to pay for a polish of my wedding band but I can imagine after one year of wearing my WB I would have had it replated already. What is the cost of replating WG and how often does one get it replated? I thought I had read somewhere that it was around $30 to get a ring replated. I suppose that is one thing that is necessary to include in the overall cost of a setting. If you get it replated annually and hold on to your ring for 10 years, you could spend an extra $300. I suppose the longer you hold on to it, the closer the cost of a WG ring comes to the initial investment of a platinum one. Or course, if the setting is really substantial the price difference between WG and platinum becomes larger and larger so that's something to consider as well when evaluating the lifetime cost of a ring.

Sorry to ramble, OP! Its an interesting conundrum once you get into it and look at all aspects of it.

 

[TruLuv858]

Clairitek- by all means- you are not rambling!! All are good points. I can tell you that when I had a white Gold setting, I didn't need to replate it for a couple of years? I believe, Shihtzu is correct, it might depend on your own body chemistry...

 

[LGK]

Yennyfire, yep, that's absolutely true that PT wasn't used in jewelry until the Edwardian period (bit after the turn of the last century). Before that a lot of Victorian jewelry was 18K underneath, and sterling plated on top. I have some sterling filigree diamond earrings from about 1890.

Stone, if it was just the shanks that were thin, sure. But with antique rings they get worn all over, chased or die struck designs and engraving are sometimes almost gone- and it happens about 50/50 on each metal. Just my experience seeing a ton of antique jewerly over the years, that the PT rings and WG ones show equal wear & tear, at least in the more delicate designs that are around 100 years old or so.

 

[spacemanspiff33]

Interesting thought here - has anybody every had any experience rhodium plating their platinum? is this possible?

 

[Laila619]

Interesting thought here - has anybody every had any experience rhodium plating their platinum? is this possible?

No, it's not recommended. From Leon's website, www.artofplatinum.com :

"Mass producers who are not used to platinum fabrication will process platinum jewelry in the same way they manufacture white gold jewelry. They will rhodium plate platinum, which is a mistake. The plating flakes off almost immediately and platinum looks dull and gray in comparison to ultra-bright white spots of rhodium."

http://www.artofplatinum.com/start/vaul ... dients.php

 

[spacemanspiff33]

scratch that idea!

 

[Clairitek]

Clairitek- by all means- you are not rambling!! All are good points. I can tell you that when I had a white Gold setting, I didn't need to replate it for a couple of years? I believe, Shihtzu is correct, it might depend on your own body chemistry...

Agreed! Also, I thought I read about one PSer who uses contacts in their eyes noticing that their saline solution sped up the erosion of the rhodium plating as well.

 

[Sheherizaad]

What about titanium guys?

 

[starshine]

LGK, thank you soooo much for the pics! Very helpful!

 

[drad]

I know this is an old thread but I wanted to add a picture for future searchers. On the top is my platinum engagement ring which I've had for three weeks. I wear it everywhere, in the shower, to bed, around the house, gym, yoga etc. The only time I don't wear it is while I'm getting ready because I soak it in cleaner. On the bottom is my wedding band which has never been worn. I personally hate how shiny the plat is at first, I perfer the patina.

 

[motherof3inct]

My e-ring and wedding bands are platinum and I soak them in jewelry cleaning liquid for 15 minutes before cleaning with a brush. Would you be able to do that with white gold without worrying about replating? I am thinking about buying diamond earrings and plan to get them in platinum just so I can soak them. Any thoughts? Thanks.