DIAMOND ENGAGEMENT RINGS – PLATINUM or WHITE GOLD HERE’S THE FAQs

14k White Gold Round Diamond Engagement Ring Setting Ring Size 8 Head Size (Carats) 1.25ct

Let me fill you in on all the selling tactics that jewelers might use to sell you platinum jewelry over gold or silver. If you’re shopping for diamond engagement ring platinum is one of the choices that will come sliding across the shiny jeweler’s display on a field of velvet first thing. Chances are that your jeweler will have a spiel about the merits of a platinum engagement ring over the white gold ring that he removes from his case next which is almost visually identical to the customer with no formal jeweler’s training. If you ask, the shop may have a few rings in sterling silver and the differences in price really gets wide and even more confusing. So, what’s behind the expensive platinum price? I will try to justify the reasoning behind the value of diamond engagement rings in platinum settings.

PURITY
18k gold is 75% pure and platinum is approximately 90-95% pure, which means you get more metal for your moolah.

STABILITY
Platinum’s color is more stable. It will not change color over time. Diamond and platinum jewelry should look exactly the same centuries from the day that you have it sized for your bride’s dainty finger.

HARMLESS
Hypoallergenic is a big buzzword in toiletries and now it’s being used as a selling point in diamond engagement rings! Platinum jewelry qualifies as being hypoallergenic and won’t cause a nasty rash the way that dirty old 14k or 18k gold might. When you buy a white gold ring, you may get some nickel thrown in for good measure and nickel is irritating to some people’s skin.

SCARCE
To come up with one ounce of this rare and pure metal, you’ve got to process 10 tons of ore which makes platinum rarer than gold.

DURABLE
Take a look at Granny’s treasured wedding ring, see how the band is worn down to a thread on the back and sides? Are the prongs or bezel that support the diamond diminished in spots? In my humble opinion this is where a platinum engagement ring crosses the finish line way out in front of gold; it lasts. I have lost several flawless diamonds that fell out of worn prongs. Once I got wise to the wearing and wasting ways of gold I trekked to the jewelry store each year for a clean bill of health for my diamond rings. It seemed that at least one of my gold prongs was in need of repair every year, but my diamond engagement ring in platinum needed no such maintenance.

The bottom line is whether you can afford the additional price for a diamond engagement ring in platinum and if you can, by all means get platinum but (remember you heard it here) platinum jewelry is NOT perfect, completely maintenance free or indestructible.

No matter how much your diamond engagement ring set in platinum cost it has some of the same drawbacks as gold or sterling jewelry.

Lose some of its rich silky new looking finish. In the Japanese culture, they treasure each and every scratch on their platinum jewelry. Hey, they like their old wrinkled ancestors over there, too. Platinum will show some wear, just less than gold and you can have platinum polished back to the original look at any time. If you still want platinum but are wary of those tiny microscopic scratches, you might want to consider a matte, carved or satin finish rather than a shiny high gloss.