Palladuim alloyed 18ct White Gold versus Platinum...decision, decisoin, decision!!

Nextra

I am currently in the throws of a decision to use White Gold or Platinum for my fiancee's solitaire round stone wedding ring (an E color diamond so I really want a white metal to compliment the stone). Many internet threads dispell the notion that Platinum is much more expensive. However, platinum prices seem to have come down in recent times and there is only a price difference of €400 (not too much when you consider the overall cost of a ring and the fact that you will wear it for the rest of your life). I would easily pay this if i thought It was a better metal.
However, the basis of my dilemma is that more than one jeweler has strongly recommended white gold over platinum. They say that platinum looks great at first, but it scratches and they show much more than white gold and the ring will look dull after a year. I had previously thought that white gold yellows but apparently when alloyed with palladium this doesn't happen and I have a guarantee from the jeweller who is custom making the ring that I won't need to get the ring replated for at least 3 years. As it stands at the moment i am swaying towards Palladuim alloyed white gold.
Does anyone have any further knowledge or experience of either?

iguana

There was a fairly recent thread on this here.

http://boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055687192

Personally I really dislike white gold as it's not real. And as far as science is concerned the jeweler you spoke to is lying/wrong. White gold is plated in rhodium and the rhodium wears away, meaning it needs to be re-plated on average every 2 years.

Platinum is much harder than any gold, but it is not meant to be as shiny as it is when you buy it. So yes it does dull after time but that is what it's meant to look like.

Nextra

The jeweller who is making my ring has told me he can easily supply me with a platinum ring for an extra €400. However he is adamant that palladium alloyed 18ct white gold is a better choice and firmly believes we are all being misguided by unscrupulous salespeople who push the sale of a more expensive ring just because customers are ill informed! This jeweller has been mentioned numerous times on this site and I have read nothing but good reports about him and his custom made pieces.

He informed me that platinum has some good points in that it has very high melting temperature for intricate work which requires many different soldering temperatures. It is also totally non-allergic.

However, he makes some interesting points about why one should chose white gold over platinum:
‘Metal Hardness is inversely proportionate to its specific weight. Lead is the heaviest but also the softest metal and Titanium is the hardest of all but also the lightest! Likewise, Platinum is heavier than white gold but is also much softer making it much more likely to scratch easily!’

The Platinum Guild says this about platinum and white gold (information from the Platinum Guild’s “Manufacturing Process Volume 5”) ‘Hardness is a useful property in that it gives some indication of the resistance of a material to damage by wear and scratching. The hardness values are listed in the Vickers scale (HV), the larger the number the harder it is.

Platinum – 5% Iridium 110 HV
18K Palladium White Gold 216 HV

He argues that if a white gold ring is alloyed with palladium and produced using decent heavy plating it should not need to be re-plated for another three years and won’t scratch and dull as much as platinum.

Again I would love to hear what others think. Without doubt, at the end of the day it boils down to personal choice but I think it’s good to let you all know his stance and to perhaps do your own research before paying for a more expensive band.

Intothesea

I think it's a good overall move away from the usual white
gold alloys. The biggest issue beyond that is platinum's
excellent ability to remain intact weight-wise over many
repolishings. If the higher palladium content version is
more on a par with standard white gold for costs then
it has to be a better deal overall, and people should
demand it from jewellers. If the price difference between
plat and white gold palladium alloy isn't that great, I'd
still go for plat on an overall durability basis. P.S. thanks
for raising this, have added comment in the 'facts and
not fiction' thread.