I hear the same question time and time again. "They both look the same, so what's the difference?" Its true, white gold and platinum jewellery do look the same yet white gold is much cheaper than platinum. But before you rush to choose white gold, know the facts:
"I thought gold was yellow?" It is. The gold that is used to make jewellery is almost always not 100% pure. You may have heard the term "carat" to describe the purity of gold. This measure is a scale out of 24 where 24 carat is pure gold. 9 carat gold is thus 37.5% pure gold and 18 carat gold is 75% pure gold. The rest of the metal is actually a mixture of alloys. Gold is very soft and the alloys mixed with it helps make the metal harder. With white gold, white alloys are used to mix with the pure gold, and the result is a pale yellow metal. This pale yellow metal is then coated with Rhodium which is a very hard, expensive and white metal. The result is a bright white metal - white gold.
Platinum, on the other hand, is a metal that is naturally white. Platinum is rarer than gold, heavier, much harder and used in a purer form (usually 95%). Platinum is therefore much more expensive than gold.
The advantages of white gold over platinum when used in jewellery is that it is much more affordable. However, you may need to re-coat the item in Rhodium once or twice a year as wear and tear rubs away the coating and the pale, dull yellow gold becomes visible.
Platinum jewellery is initially more expensive, but it can be argued is more cost effective in the long run as when it scratches or becomes worn, it does not need to be re-coated.
Therefore, my metal of choice for jewellery is platinum. It does not only feel more substantial (as is heavier than gold), it is rarer and also more practical. Besides, when you buy an expensive piece of diamond jewellery, you want to know that you have bought the best!
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