Wedding rings - metal advice

roses

I have a £12 sterling silver ring I bought from Amazon, and a platinum engagement ring which I wear together. Looks ok to me and 8 months later it's still looking good

wannabee_in_credit

Sorry to butt in on this thread - it's to do with the reactivity of the metals... (I'm a chemistry bod by trade).
You know how they cover under sea oil rigs with sacrificial plates made of a different metal? Then the air/water will react with these rather than the rig itself.
Well if your rings are two different metals, one will be more reactive than the other and may seem to 'wear' quicker than the other. Platinum less reactive than gold so appears to last longer etc.
There may be another, better, jewellery explanation - but that's the very basic chemistry behind it.

BLUis

Well I spoke to a couple of jewellers on Saturday, 2 said MUST have metals that match, others said, it didnt really matter, that the erosion would take place over such a long time, it wouldnt make a difference.

So I am still compltely confused and befuddled. I think I want a silver one now, but, I am still making up my mind. I might go to the jewellry quarter and see what I can find there.

LEJC

In an ideal world you should have the metals matching....This helps to prevent the harder metal rubbing the softer metal away...
However it does take a long time and many years of constant rubbing to cause significant damage...

Therefore in essence what both jewellers have said to you is correct...

platinum is a very hard metal AND silver much softer...so the result of putting them together will over time mean that you may notice some slight thinning around the siver ring where it has rubbed against the platinum...and you may also find that the silver will scratch much easier than the platinum...the fact that you want to put a platinum ring with a silver ring may mean that in 5 years time you notice that your silver ring isnt quite as round as it used to be or if you hold it up to the light its not quite a perfect circle anymore...although a lot also depends on how you treat your rings too...

Over time all rings whatever they are made from will rub...ive had my wedding ring now for nearly 20 years and whilst I'd love to have it as shiney and new as it was the day I got it...its been on a journey with me....and if I'm totally honest I'm probably not as shiney and polished as I was either on my wedding day!

Brightside

Due to my work i'm getting an engraved titanium engagement ring rather than one with a stone from wedding rings direct, then a plain titanium band wedding ring

Titanium is light and very tough, hence normally being used for mens rings, although they do have thinner bands. You can also order a silver replica ring to try before you buy, you get a code to redeem against an order when you return it, postage paid.

the risk of bi-metallic corrosion between different common jewellry metals is low, it will be the relative hardness that will be a problem, I think this is mainly with gold and silver, platinum, palladium and titanium are all much harder wearing.

Idiophreak

Just a small thought - are you 100% sure on what kind of ring you want? If not, have you considered just getting a smaller, platinum ring? My wife's wedding ring is platinum, but just really small - so it actually cost less, in platinum, from Tiffany, than my palladium ring from the jewellery quarter.

Otherwise, I'd be concerned with the colour match - and would go for palladium on that basis. It's almost indistinguishable from platinum. Oh, and I'd go for palladium on this basis, too

BLUis

Idiophreak wrote: »

Just a small thought - are you 100% sure on what kind of ring you want? If not, have you considered just getting a smaller, platinum ring? My wife's wedding ring is platinum, but just really small - so it actually cost less, in platinum, from Tiffany, than my palladium ring from the jewellery quarter.

Otherwise, I'd be concerned with the colour match - and would go for palladium on that basis. It's almost indistinguishable from platinum. Oh, and I'd go for palladium on this basis, too

I did think about getting a small wedding ring and then thought no. I want one about 4 - 5 mm thick. I dont care if its a plain band to be honest, I just want it quite wide.

No offense intended to anyone here, but my first wedding ring was really thin and this time around, I want it to be more of a statement.