Wedding Ring - Palladium or 9k/18k White Gold

ag19lfc

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?

dw85

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.

Hev_smev

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.

ruby_eskimo

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.

evespikey

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 (£50 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.

Evil_Olive

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.

jim_

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!

gadgeteer_2

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.

BarryBlue

We have palladium rings and they are excellent. Much better value than platinum or white gold. Palladium is also hallmarked these days.

Justengaged

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.

[Deleted User]

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