Engagement Ring - Platinum vs. White Gold?

Factual Questions
1

Which metal does a better job as an engagement ring, Platinum or White Gold?

I’ve been looking around at engagement rings lately, and I’m confused about the differences in the properties of Platinum vs. White Gold.

I’ve been told that Platinum is much harder and stronger than White Gold, and will hold the diamond better (less likely to break off a prong).

I’ve been told that Platinum is softer than White Gold, and is more easily scratched and dented, and therefore more likely to bend a prong and lose the diamond.

I’ve been told that while Platinum is somewhat dull and White Gold holds a finish better, that White Gold will require periodic recoating/replating in order to keep that shiny finish.

Platinum seems to cost anywhere from twice to five times as much as an equivalent setting of White Gold.

Can anyone give me the real pros and cons of one vs. the other? Which metal is the best candidate for holding onto a diamond?

2

I’m not a jeweler, just a new(ish) bride who remembers how hard it was to get the metal for the ring she wanted.

Platinum is harder than gold, and is often used for the prongs of an otherwise gold ring. It scratches more easily because it’s not as soft as the gold, but what causes a scratch on a platinum ring would have scraped away a tiny bit of the gold of a gold ring. Both platinum and white gold will require re-dipping in rhodium every few years ($15-$35, though the original jeweler might do it for free), otherwise the platinum will become grayish and dull and the white gold will become yellowish. Anecdotally, white gold wedding and engagement rings tend to yellow at different rates, which leads to more rhodium dipping.

Without any maintenance on them, my grandmother’s platinum engagement ring has faded to a fuzzy-looking grey, which nobody would guess is platinum (over 60 years), and my new-white-gold engagement ring has become so yellow that it looks like yellow gold (over 5 years). However, my old-white-gold wedding ring has remained bright white for 15 months on my hand, and 32 years on the hand of the aunt who gave it to me.

Old white gold (pre-1970 or so) didn’t yellow and didn’t have to be rhodium-dipped, because it was alloyed with nickel. That alloy is now banned in Europe, because of the severe allergic reactions it caused for a good portion of the population, and so it’s become very difficult to find in the U.S. You can have a jeweler make the old alloy for you, or you can look around at estate sales and antique stores to find old rings whose gold can be salvaged. The Japanese seem to be using an iridium/gold mix for their white gold jewelry, but it’s expensive. If you manage to get your hands on old white gold or the Japanese alloy, you and your future wife are going to have to be incredibly firm with jewelers about not letting a drop of rhodium touch the ring. She won’t need to bring it to a jeweler very often though, because old white gold is as maintenance free as yellow gold (the easiest metal to take care of, and what I’d recommend to anyone who doesn’t have their heart set on a white metal).

So go with yellow gold if you want an easy to take care of ring; platinum if you want a metal that good jewelers know how to take care of and which will hold the stone very well, but which will require upkeep every few years; old white gold if you can find it and a jeweler you’d trust to work with it, and if she’s not allergic to the nickel alloy, of course; and new white gold not at all. The prongs should be platinum.

3

I went for Platinum with a yellow gold setting. The jeweller told me that apart from buffing with a cloth every so often, there’s nothing that needs to be done. Platinum is more expensive, because it wears better and doesn’t need as much maintenance as white gold.

White gold would need to be re-plated with rhodium after a few years, platinum wouldn’t necessarily, despite what Little Lioness said.

Platinum is the darkest silver colour, almost leaden, white gold is brighter, silver is brighter still.

Platinum is hardest, white gold is softer, silver softer still.

Discuss with your jeweller and see what they can offer you within your budget.

4

IIRC, white gold was initially used to simulate the look of platinum without the additional cost. Platinum is harder, stronger and heavier than gold. Scratches in platinum are more visible, it wears to a dull patina.

I’ve never heard about getting platinum plated with rhodium, only the newer white gold.

5

I just had a custom designed engagement ring cast in platinum for my lovely lady (she said yes, we’re getting married in January - best of luck Maera!). I chose platinum because

  • it’s heavier, and so it feels more substantial on her hand
  • it’s stiffer and stronger, so the “lacy” design of the ring had more structural integrity
  • the jeweler explained rhodium plating to me, and said that platinum shouldn’t require it (however, if you do coat it, you will need to keep re-coating it!)
  • I preferred the darker silver shine, which I felt made the diamond stand out better

If you find a setting you like, it should be available in several metals and you will almost certainly get to choose.

6

Platinum jewelry shopper here. We love the metal.

First off, I found that an alarmingly large number of reputable jewelers have staff who really don’t know anything about platinum. They often say such things as “it’s the hardest metal in the world!” and paradoxically “it scratches easier than gold”. Um, harder means it’s more resistant to scratching, guys…that having been said, people do complain a bit that platinum ends up looking more dull than white gold, and this has not been my experience at all. Our platinum rings and chains and so forth look very much identical to our white gold ones. I really cannot tell the difference until I pick it up. Maybe it has to do with care, or the coatings on our particular pieces.

I prefer platinum for the weightiness and uniqueness and the prestige effect; however, all things considered platinum is often very overpriced - a simple pipe-cut band with perhaps $50 of platinum in it can sell for $700, and that’s just bullshit IMO. White gold is much easier to find in a variety of styles and shapes, and is more competitively priced.

7

I’m a big fan of vintage jewelry, so my engagement ring and another ring I own are old (like from the 1920s).

Both are white gold, and still beautiful, and still hold their stones just fine.

Unless they’ve radically changed how they formulate white gold, these stories about its lack of hardiness aren’t borne out by the rings I own.

8

Speaking as a chemist, platinum has too many uses as a catalyst to artificially increase its value by using it as jewelry metal. If some very rare and expensive cancer drug also had the effect of curing male pattern baldness, to me it would not justify its use for such a purpose, even if the user could afford it. I recognize that reasonable people may differ on this.

9

White gold is plated with rhodium? I never knew that. My mother had a wedding ring made of white gold which always looked rather dull to me, except of course the diamonds. My yellow gold ring also can get dull, but I found that a quick buff-up at the jeweler’s can restore the sheen. So I always thought it was with my mother’s ring too.

I think the best looking white metal is sterling silver, which isn’t considered precious or expensive enough for fine jewelry, and also has that unfortunate tendency to tarnish. I wonder if metallurgists have ever tried to come up with a nontarnishing silver alloy. Or if such an alloy would even be theoretically possible.

10

I have a platinum ring (from at least 1890, I’ve been told) with a sterling shank (wore through and was fixed with silver). It’s kind of dull shine is really beautiful. I love it and would love a platinum ring for my wedding.

We’re going with titanium, though, I think. It’s gorgeous, hard, and cheaper than platinum.

11

So, your intended has two kids, gains weight, and wants to have the ring sized. I don’t think titanium can be sized later. I could be wrong.

There’s been some good info in this thread, but some bad too.

I buy and sell used jewelry for a living. I see rings that have been made from 1880-2004. In every conceivable metal combination and color.

Just my experience, but the average platinum ring, which is all the craze, will indeed show scratches and wear faster than 14k/18K white gold. Platinum, no mater what the metal combined with, just shows up dull faster. You can always have a jeweler polish it, for a nominal fee. It doesn’t need “rhodium dipped.” Nor does white gold. They merely need to have a jewer polish them professionally.

As to the “stone holding ability” of any combination of alloys, don’t fret about it. Whether a platinum-combo, or gold, prongs hold stones just fine. All you have to do is keep the stone insured, and let your local jeweler check the prongs twice a year. If they say you need retips, let’em do it. If you have an old ring with many tips needed, sometimes more economical to buy a new head.

Una. A simple pipe-cut band with $50 worth of platinum!! That would be such a thin band, you can’t believe.

With platinum over $800/ounce the last few years, $50 don’t buy you much.

And, because platinum doesn’t sell the amount that gold does, and platinum is harder to work with, it costs more. Overpriced. Yep, IMHO.

12

Sheesh! I meant to give an interesting link:

13

I agree.

14

Whoa. When I shopped for such a thing, it was much, much cheaper. And all I wanted was a very thin band, yes.

15

Platinum has gone WAY up in the past few years, it was below $500 in 2001, and is about $850 now. Don’t forget, to make matters worse, since platinum is denser than gold, you get less volume for your ounce, a gold ring will cost less per ounce and have less weight for the same volume.

16

My engagement ring is yellow gold with a platinum setting. It lost a prong at less than a year old. YMMV.

17

Thanks Everyone (and thanks Jurph, best of luck to you too!)

I guess with proper care, both white gold and platinum will do a good job. The question becomes whether the trendy status of platinum is worth the extra cost. I’ll have to find a subtle way of asking the future (with luck!) Mrs. Maera :slight_smile:

18

My first choice would be Real White Gold.
Ersatz gold with Rhodium plating looks just like cheap plastic costume jewelry and screams ‘CHEAP.’
Platinum therefore is second choice.

19

Get a titanium band! It looks just like platinum, is lighter, and costs less than 10% the price of platinum…and only you will know!

20

I have a white gold ring that I’ve worn pretty much 24/7 since I bought it in 1989. It’s slightly yellower than my silver ring, but it’s been the same color since I bought it. I haven’t taken any special care of it, and there are a few dings and scratches, but at the distance my hands are away from my face while typing, it’s pretty and shiny still, and I haven’t cleaned it in quite some time. There are two small diamonds set into the top of the ring and, well, they’re still there.
To me, platinum always looks like silver, so why not just use silver? Seems kind of silly to me to use a really super expensive fake for something relatively cheap.