Wedding Ring

A question about : Wedding Ring

Starting to look at wedding rings. Bride is having platinum to match her engagement but groom not sure whether to go for White Gold or Palladium (Platinum is outside our budget).

18k White Gold appears to be the most valuable but Palladium seems to share most of the characteristics found in Platinum.

Why does Palladium appear to be cheaper than White Gold when it's supposedly similar to Platinum?

Will a Palladium ring be more hard-wearing than 18k White Gold for example? Also, will it shine longer over time?

Best answers:

• We have Palladium rings and i can only go by what the jewellers told us when we were shopping for rings last year.
  Palladium is very hard wearing and polishes up well. Its still relativly new in the jewellery world (though becoming more popular) and for the price I havent found anything to complain about.
  The only thing that really stood out over white gold was that it would have to be re-plated and that it would be more prone to scratches as its a softer metal.
  Have a chat to a jeweller, they are (excuse the pun) a goldmine of information.
• totally agree!
  Palladium is a not so expensive platinum, white gold can be very soft.
  My future husband has said he will have a wide wedding ring of both polished and brushed palladium so its tough for him as I will be having platinum as my engagement ring is that.
  All in all platinum is the best you can get apprently so go for the palladium if you cant afford the platinum rather than the white gold.
• I wouldn't go for white gold: it's just yellow gold with a rhodium plating to make it appear white. You'll need to have it re-plated every 2 years or so to keep it looking white, which in the long run would work out more expensive than palladium / platinum. Palladium has similar properties to platinum, but is available in more abundance (hence the lower price than platinum) but it's slightly softer.
  My OH is looking at titanium rings as he want's something to match my platinum but he knows that the titanium will stand up to his clumsiness more than any other metal.
• Palladium is cheaper because despite having less of it in the world than many other traditional metals, it is not as in demand as, say, silver or gold. (For a variety of reasons, e.g. people aren't as aware of palladium, it doesn't have the history of being tied to weddings as other metals do).
  It may sometimes appear as though the world has less palladium than other metals, but this is because suppliers limit the supply of other metals in order to keep the price up as they know those metals are in demand. I expect the price of palladium will gradually start to rise as it gets more popular.
  For reference, we have just bought our rings- Mine was white gold to match the engagement ring, and my husband-to-be's is palladium. His was marginally more expensive than mine (Ј50 ish). He's very happy with it. I am expecting my rings to depreciate quicker than his as mine will naturally rub together on my hand.
• Just for reference, white gold isn't just yellow gold plated to make it white (although I believe there's a big problem in America with plated yellow gold being sold as white gold because the industry isn't as tightly regulated as it is over here).
  100% pure gold is ALWAYS a very bright, clear yellow, but it's like lead, and far too soft to make into jewellery. So all gold for jewellery is mixed with other metals, and this changes the colour of the gold according to what metals are used.
  To make white gold, they mix it with silver or another white metal to make it lighter, whereas yellow gold is mixed with copper and silver instead, to keep it yellow (though not so bright yellow as pure gold), and red gold is mixed with just copper.
  They all contain exactly the same amount of pure yellow gold according to what carat they are.
  eg
  18ct yellow gold = 75% pure gold and 25% copper/silver or other red white or yellow metals,
  18ct white gold = 75% pure gold and 25% silver or other white metals,
  18ct red gold = 75% pure gold and 25% copper or other red metals)
  Plating white gold with rhodium is quite a recent thing - rhodium is very, very white and very shiny, and modern brides seem to like the 'bling' of it. Vintage/antique white gold rings are not usually plated and are a very pale 'hint of lemon' or 'light champagne' colour.
  I like to wear both yellow gold and silver dress jewellery so I chose natural unplated white gold for my wedding/engagement rings because the silver-with-a-hint-of-gold colour of natural white gold means they look OK with all my dress jewellery.
  If you want a completely white metal but can't afford platinum, I would go with palladium as it's much more hardwearing than plated white gold, doesn't need re-plating to keep it completely white and, as other people have said, I think it's only so much cheaper at the moment because it's not yet seen as a 'jewellery' metal to the same extent as platinum.
• For what it's worth, we went for 18k white for my wife's ring to match the engagement, and I had a fairly wide palladium band - wanted something that could be polished and didn't need replating.
  2 months down and my ring is scratched all over (more my fault than the metal's) but polishes up just fine. I'd say go for the palladium and don't worry about it!
• I have a Palladium ring and mine's scratched to !!!!!!y too. After a while you stop worrying about it.
  Wife has a white gold engagement ring and she needs it replating again. We had a replated just before the wedding and we've only been married a year! Thankfully it's not too expensive.
  The jeweller's we bought it from said they'd do it for free which is nice but by the time you've factored in insured courier costs in both directions it's cheaper to take it to the local jeweller's.
• We have palladium rings and they are excellent. Much better value than platinum or white gold. Palladium is also hallmarked these days.
• If you're looking to keep costs down why not have a different metal altogether?
  If a bride is going to continue wearing her engagement ring then it matters what type of metal her wedding ring is as they will rub and unfortunately metals get worn down at different speeds so it makes sense to be a bit picky, but unless the groom wears other rings that will rub on it, then feel free to go with whatever metal you feel happy wearing.
  I have a platinum engagement ring and a palladium wedding ring, but OH has a titanium ring (his choice) which was a fraction of the cost and still looks nice.
  Go try some on and see how you feel about it, I wouldn't worry about the metal too much it's about what you feel happy wearing for the rest of your life.
• I've got a palladium ring - chosen because it won't ever need replating, it won't fade or change colour, it's hypo-allergenic. It is also ultra-light
  Yup, it scratched up on honeymoon, but it has hardly changed since then (6 years now).
  Don't worry about scratches; it's manly My wife's white gold ring has been redipped once and needs it doing again
• We're having palladium for our wedding rings,
  I've had my white gold engagement ring for two months and it's already going yellow on the base.
  Palladium will be hard wearing and last a lot longer.
• I have a white gold engagement ring circa 15 years old. I wear it with my yellow gold wedding band and they clearly look different. I've never had it replated and it looks fine to me - the champagne reference does seem closer the shade rather than bright and shiny silver.
• Even though palladium is a mineral belonging to platinum-group metals, it is far away from the qualities of platinum. Platinum's strength and natural white shine are incomparable to any other metals available on the earth. Moreover, it is less allergenic to extreme temperature conditions.
  Undoubtedly, it has to be 18k white gold when chosen over palladium, both in terms of appearance and caring. White gold has more sparkle than palladium and the latter can't guarantee a clean join at the time of repair in the future. You can't get the same shine back even after frequent polishing and cleansing. White gold is quite affordable, so don't be lured by very less price of palladium metal.
  However, I believe that wedding and engagement are the times where you go a little out of budget, and it's about 'little' amount only since prices of platinum has dropped in the recent years. It will be great if you can try for platinum as it is a one-time investment and its scintillating whiteness is unsurpassable.
• what about Tungsten
• White gold is ok if you take care while wearing your ring and prevent it from getting into contact with chemicals. That will really slow down to "yellowing" process.
• Palladium is in Iron Man's chest.
  That was all I needed to know.
• Finally decided on a unplated white gold ring - really like the "champagne" colour that white gold shows when it hasn't been rhodium plated.
  Would a 9ct white gold ring (unplated) be less "yellow" than an 18ct white gold ring (unplated) considering 9ct white gold has less gold content than 18ct? I can only find photos of 18ct unplated white gold.
• Hi ag19lfc,
  I've answered your PM but I'll put the info here too in case it's useful to anyone else...
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