Platinum / White 18ct Gold
You may have heard that platinum is a
better metal to use in the manufacture of your diamond ring.
This maybe based on hearsay or on personal experience.
The truth of the matter is that this is
not the case, here is why:
It is true
that low quality white 18ct gold does lose it's rhodium
plating
quite quickly, sometimes in the space of 6 months, and will
then
need to be re-rhodiated.
24ct yellow gold, in order to be made into 18ct 'white' gold
can be mixed with either
nickel or paladium as the alloy.
Nickel is cheap, paladium as expensive as platinum.
The cheap nickel will give a pale yellow 'white' gold
mixture, paladium will
give a pale white 'white' gold mixture, very near to the
unpolished
platinum equivalent.
Now both these 18ct white gold mixtures (alloys) will need
to be rhodiated
or rhodium plated.
When the rhodium plating, in time, is worn away the cheaper
nickel alloy
variety will show a pale yellow shaded area coming through,
the paladium
mixture (alloy) will not but will
only show a more mat or unpolished surface
hardly noticeable against the already worn and tarnished
shiny rhodium surface.
In time the rhodium plating will
wear away, this will depend on the
quality of the plating itself, if
poorly plated then within 6 months signs of wear will
appear, however, if properly
plated it will certainly last at least 3 years, in fact
just as long as would
platinum, which, as with rhodium, will have lost
most of its 'shine' and
will need to be re-polished as
well.
Re-polishing platinum will mean
taking a thin layer of actual metal off the
ring in the
polishing process. This means that in time, say
within after 20 years and on average 7 polishing sessions
later, the ring will become thinner each time and
may, in time crack which will then require a new
mount to be made.
The 18ct white gold, on the other hand, within this same
time span, will need
to be re-rhodiated, but this time much less polishing is
required, and
a further layer of rhodium is
applied. This means that your mount will last much longer
and cost you less in maintenance costs, not the
contrary.
Another disadvantage of platinum is its brittle nature. If
knocked, a platinum
mount may crack, if it is a claw,
this will break off and you may lose the
stone, gold, on the other hand, will give and bend which
will then
easily allow repair and safeguard your losing the diamond.
Lastly Platinum is over twice the price,
per ounce, as compared to 18ct gold and has a 30% extra
density as well which means that it will cost over twice the
price to manufacture than the alternative 'better' solution.
Yes you may well ask, then, why do some
jewellers recommend this metal.
Well there are three reasons really.
The first being that they may just have
that particular style you like in platinum, so it is easier
to supply something they have than what they don't have on
hand.
The second is that their margins are
based on turnover, platinum being much more expensive will
allow them to earn more.
Third being that they are being supplied
poor quality white 18ct gold by their wholesaler and prefer
'pushing' the platinum model as they will not be getting
complaints from their clients, risking losing them in the
process.
We only supply 18ct white gold
mixed with paladium, hence the small surcharge.
We are always happy to answer any further
questions on this subject.
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