What does Platinum and WG look a like after a few years?

[swl]

Can someone post pics of their PLT ring(s) and WG ring(s) to show what exactly is the patina on these two metals look like? Thanks!

 

[blondie]

The only thing I can say about my platinum rings now, compared to when they were purchased, is that the patina isn''t as shiny as it was and it doesn''t look quite as smooth, ie there are tiny little indentations that obviously have come about through everyday wear and so on. I know that any good jeweler, especially when you have purchased a ring through them, will clean your rings/jewellery for you and even polish them, although this is not recommended more than once every year as it does actually take a layer off (polishing not cleaning....I clean mine in the U/Sonic whenever I like more sparkle!!)

White gold is different in that it needs to be re-plated (is it rhodium?) every couple of years, or maybe more or less depending on how fussy you are. Although platinum is more durable and obviously more expensive, white gold doesn''t seem to mark as much IYKWIM? My platinum has also gone a more dull sort of colour, but I personally like that. I think W/G tends to stay a bit shinier. Please note that I am certainly no expert and all this waffle is simply from my personal experience!!! x

 

[Patchee]

I guess I am on the other side of the fence.

Platnium is softer and not as durable as white gold which is why I went with white gold. It does not need to be replated, rhodium is different - fake stuff that is on like cheap, cz type rings, no? I am not savvy on much of this stuff but I think I am correct in a little sence.

WG stays shiney, it does scratch like the rest of em but platnium gets divits. It stays shiney, platnium is dull .. my opinion with owning both,

 

[blackberry16]

I have a platinum wedding set and have been pleased with how it evolved over the past 5 years. After a few months it was not as smooth and shiny but I loved the colored of the metal. It is a very pretty white and I never have to worry about the yellow tinge that all my white gold gets after a while.

 

[zapt]

i have platinum on my original e-ring which i still use pretty much everyday. the plat has a matted patina-look to it (w/c shows scratches more), which i love. BUT my wedding band with diamonds is in WG -- and i wear them together. i can see that the plat is a true "silver" color whereas the WG band color has a yellow-tinge to it, altho it is still shiny and does not show much scratches on the band.

i go either WG or plat - i like them both. my other rings are in WG.

 

[gemgirl]

Date: 8/6/2009 2:17:27 PM
Author: zapt
i have platinum on my original e-ring which i still use pretty much everyday. the plat has a matted patina-look to it (w/c shows scratches more), which i love. BUT my wedding band with diamonds is in WG -- and i wear them together. i can see that the plat is a true ''silver'' color whereas the WG band color has a yellow-tinge to it, altho it is still shiny and does not show much scratches on the band.

i go either WG or plat - i like them both. my other rings are in WG.

I don''t have rings in the two metals that show signs of wear, so I can''t show you that, but I do own jewelry in both metals. zapt is correct. White gold will tend to show a yellow tinge to it as it ages and gets scratched, but platinum remains stable color wise. White gold will not become quite as dull as platinum does. Platinum will become absolutely matte finished with decades of wear and no maintainence. My mother''s e-ring looked like the dull side of aluminum foil if you can visualize that, but it was brought back to life with polishing and re-rhodium plating it. It looked brand new again after a little TLC.

 

[Clairitek]

Date: 8/6/2009 1:02:54 PM
Author: Patchee
I guess I am on the other side of the fence.

Platinum is softer and not as durable as white gold which is why I went with white gold. It does not need to be replated, rhodium is different - fake stuff that is on like cheap, cz type rings, no? I am not savvy on much of this stuff but I think I am correct in a little sence.

WG stays shiney, it does scratch like the rest of em but platnium gets divits. It stays shiney, platnium is dull .. my opinion with owning both,

Actually, rhodium is a lot more expensive than most jewelery metals but since its so brittle it can''t be used to make 100% rhodium mountings. It makes a great plating material though so most white gold you see out there is plated with something... probably rhodium. Some people appreciate the warmth of unplated white gold. I believe CoatiMundi''s e-ring is 18kt white gold that is unplated. If you start with plated white gold then after time it will wear off and you''ll need to get it replated to maintain the whiteness.

 

[tyty333]

These are both platinum. The band on the left is brand new. The band on the right is about 11 years old. To me it seems like over time it just gets
a few more nics and scratches but I dont notice any change in color. I think the scratches could be polished out. (in the 11 years the ring has never
been polished - just regular cleanings).

 

[Laila619]

There are also different types of Platinum. It is my understanding that 950 Ruthenium Platinum doesn''t scratch as easily as Platinum Iridium. So that makes a difference as well.

 

[musey]

There's some misinformation floating around in this thread...

Date: 8/6/2009 11:42:38 AM
Author: blondie
The only thing I can say about my platinum rings now, compared to when they were purchased, is that the patina isn't as shiny as it was and it doesn't look quite as smooth, ie there are tiny little indentations that obviously have come about through everyday wear and so on. I know that any good jeweler, especially when you have purchased a ring through them, will clean your rings/jewellery for you and even polish them, although this is not recommended more than once every year as it does actually take a layer off (polishing not cleaning....I clean mine in the U/Sonic whenever I like more sparkle!!)

This is only true with GOLD (and white gold, rose gold, etc.). Platinum NEVER loses weight/mass from polishing.

Date: 8/6/2009 1:02:54 PM
Author: Patchee
Platnium is softer and not as durable as white gold which is why I went with white gold. It does not need to be replated, rhodium is different - fake stuff that is on like cheap, cz type rings, no? I am not savvy on much of this stuff but I think I am correct in a little sence.

Rhodium is an extremely high-price metal, it is not "fake stuff." Making a ring purely out of rhodium would be prohibitively expensive, which is why it's used to plate white gold. Yes, white gold does need to be replated - with rhodium.

That is unless you prefer the look of unplated white gold - I love it, there are many who do, but 99.999% of the white gold jewelry you'll find available out there is plated with rhodium.

Date: 8/6/2009 4:55:55 PM
Author: Laila619
There are also different types of Platinum. It is my understanding that 950 Ruthenium Platinum doesn't scratch as easily as Platinum Iridium. So that makes a difference as well.

Yep... that's definitely true. I have a plain 950 Plat/Ru band that still looks almost new (until you inspect it very closely) after 3 months of continuous 24/7 wear. My engagement ring is 950 Plat/Ir and shows patina usually within a month of wear.


You can read a lot about alloys here:
An Overview of Common Alloys Used in Jewelry

To address the "Platinum is softer and not as durable as white gold" concern that Patchee raised, you must decide what your definition of "durable" is. Platinum is softer, and for this reason is more durable than white gold. Weird, huh? Not really, if you think about it. To be more accurate, platinum is more malleable, where gold/white gold is more brittle. This means that when a white gold prong is hit, it is more likely to snap (stone goes flying)... where a platinum prong is more likely to bend (stones stays put). When a whtie gold shank is hit, it is more likely to cause a deep gash/slough metal away, where a platinum shank is more likely to furrow - which can be polished right back in to place, where the gash on the white gold shank may be irreparable (you'd need to polish/slough white gold away to the deepest level of the gash, as opposed to being able to rearrange platinum to "fill in" the gash).

Bottom line is that both metals have their positives and drawbacks.


Platinum:

will maintain its color

is hypoallergenic

wears evenly: patina (small scratches, furrows and scuffs built up into a more "matte" appearance)

some people don't like the look of patina

loses no mass when polished, therefore can be polished basically as often as you'd like

shows evidence of wear more quickly than (white) gold (though harder alloys such as Plat/Ru really close the gap here)



White Gold:

yellows with time, the speed of this depends on your body chemistry and the quality of your piece

can cause allergic reactions

since it's more brittle, won't scratch quite as easily as platinum

once it is scratched (inevitable) it loses mass with every polish, and may need to be entirely reshanked at some point

more prone to deep scratches, that in some cases cannot be polished away

more budget-friendly






So looking at the pros and cons of each option, one needs to decide where their priorities lie. For "heirloom quality" pieces, most jewelers tend to prefer platinum (if they're being honest - platinum is harder to work with, so many will talk you into white gold by twisting the truth about the alloys) because of its important qualities (doesn't change color, doesn't lose mass, hypoallergenic). Some people genuinely prefer white gold for intangible/personal preference reasons (like the color), and that's fine - but if it's purely a budget issue, and you would use platinum if it weren't so darn expensive, I would tend to recommend that people either save up for the Plat or go with Palladium (platinum family, very similar behavior-wise) instead.

 

[musey]

Maybe this'll help a bit. I just took a couple of pictures of rings I have.

Keep in mind that I have a pretty nonreactive body chemistry as far as white gold goes. I didn't notice a yellow tinge until I got my first platinum piece... and the difference is very apparent. Color and texture comparisons are very difficult to capture in a photograph, so take this with a grain of salt.

 

[blackberry16]

I think you have to decide which would bother you more: yellowing color or scratches? Both can be fixed with good a quick trip to the jeweler, but some things bother certain people more than others.

 

[QueenB29]

Musey--I didn''t ask the original question, but I wanted to thank you for this very informative and thorough description! Really good info to have!

 

[Lilac]

My engagement ring and both wedding bands are white gold, and for a while I told myself I needed to get them to be re-rhodium plated every 6 months to a year.

It''s been almost a year since I last got my engagement ring re-plated and I''ve been wearing my wedding bands for 6 months now. I kept telling myself it was getting dull and less white, but I compared it yesterday to my mom''s platinum rings and they look almost exactly the same!

My mom''s platinum ring is definitely duller than my white gold rings in the sense that mine are shinier and brighter (especially after taking them to the jeweler for a re-plating or polish), while her platinum is also white, but not shiny at all and sort of dull.

I always thought I would want platinum, but now that I have 3 white gold rings I really don''t mind it at all. And I kind of like knowing I can get them re-rhodium plated with a quick trip to the jeweler and they all come back looking shiny and brand new!

 

[Kelli]

I have white gold bands and they really have never started to yellow. I read that it depends on your body chemistry so I guess I''m just lucky. I''ve had one of my rings for about 8 1/2 years and it got polished once, but never re-plated until my engagement ring came in un-plated for some reason. When I explained to the jeweler that I was gonig to use the first ring as my wedding band, he rhodiumed them both so they''d look the same. Over a year later, no yellowing at all on either ring. The head the e-ring is platinum, and I can''t see a difference at all. Plus, my ring still looks really shiny and new!

 

[Laila619]

Great pics Musey, thanks!

 

[blondie]

Just typed ''platinum polishing'' into search and it has revealed some interesting results! Although looking to expand on my previous reply here, I have done this for personal reasons too, as I am curious that that there appears to be conflicting opinions to this. Maybe a pro-jeweler could chime in and let us know! I''ve had my set polished once and it did make a big difference, although as I said before, I think that when you invest in platinum you need to be able to live with the patina. Basically platinum is considered more of an heirloom-type piece as it is not as brittle as white gold, so therefore more durable, as I mentioned before. Hope this helps!!! Emx