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Wedding bands: Platinum Or White Gold?

Posted on March 7th, 2010 by admin0

There is a popular misconception that platinum and white gold are both lustrous cold white metals. If you have purchased a wedding band made from either platinum or white gold then you may think you have a white ring. Which do you prefer? Let’s look at the differences between them.

White gold - one of the most popular metals around these days when it comes to jewelry. However, white gold is not a natural substance. Pure gold is yellow and is far to soft to use as jewelry.

Pure gold is mixed with other metals to form a harder alloy that is then suitable for jewelry making. The quantity of pure gold in an alloy is measured in carats with 24 carat describing 100% pure gold. Once you create an alloy the purity drops so with gold, you end up with common alloys of 9 carat, 12 carat, 18 carat and 22 carat gold. Eighteen carat, for example, contains at least 75% pure gold.

Metals used to create jewelry white gold include copper, nickel, silver, zinc, and palladium. These metals also help to harden the white gold for jewelry use. The white gold effect is achieved through a bleaching process caused by silver or palladium. Some metals have a stronger bleaching effect than others, however they also have stronger hardening effects.

Wedding bands need to be hard so an 18 carat wedding band will have 75% pure gold, 10% palladium, 7.5% silver and 7.5% copper. A wedding band that is 18 carat white gold can be longer wearing than a yellow gold band of 18 carats. You can buy very cheap versions of white gold, however, they are generally made with inferior metals and don’t last as long as quality white gold.

Platinum - as precious metal, it is rarer and more expensive than pure gold. Platinum is much harder than pure gold and often needs to be alloyed to soften it a little for jewelry making purposes. Like white gold, platinum has various grades of purity and is actually a light grey in color - not white.

Since neither platinum or white gold are ‘white’, they need to be plated with a substance known as rhodium - this creates the brilliant white finish that both metals are famous for. Rhodium itself is rather soft and will wear away over a three to five year period. White gold wedding bands will eventually turn a dirty light grey in color as the rhodium wears off. Your platinum wedding ring will have a very light grey to off white look about it.

While platinum is far more expensive than white gold, they will both look like cheap metals once the rhodium plating wears off. Having your jewelry re-plated will bring back the brilliant white finish that white gold and platinum are famous for. Which is the better option for wedding bands, platinum or white gold? Because platinum was so expensive, metallurgists created white gold as an imitation. Today, white gold is popular for being white gold, not a platinum imitation. If you want the platinum look at half the price, you will only buy rubbish these days since gold has become so expensive. For anyone looking for the platinum finish, I suggest buying platinum.

If you like white gold as white gold, then make sure the alloys used are silver and palladium and not other cheaper metals. I like white gold wedding bands, not because it looks like platinum, but because it looks like white gold.

If you intend having a gemstone added to your wedding band, then the ideal diamond is one that is small and well cut. You can find both white gold and diamonds through many websites. Just be sure to check the quality of the products first.

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