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

CoconutJay

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.

katsu

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.

citrinejenifer

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.

lemontart

what about Tungsten

arbrighton

lemontart wrote: »

what about Tungsten

Very hard, not particularly shiny and cannot be resized as it is too hard to cut. OH wants tungsten as he's a chemist and it's interesting to him but we will be carefully checking size before buying

fusedtogether

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.

Idiophreak

Palladium is in Iron Man's chest.

That was all I needed to know.

ag19lfc

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.

Evil_Olive

Hi ag19lfc,
I've answered your PM but I'll put the info here too in case it's useful to anyone else...

ag19lfc wrote:

- Would a 9ct unplated white gold ring have less "yellow" tint to it than an 18ct unplated white gold ring?

Even 18k white gold is pretty pale in my experience but in theory yes, 9k should be less yellow, because it would be made up of more white metals and less yellow gold. But the colour you end up with can also depend on exactly which white metals the gold was blended with and in what proportions. I think silver and palladium are commonly used but other white metals or mixes of several can be used as well and all can give slightly different tints depending on the proportions of each. Two rings, though both 18k white gold, could have different levels of 'yellowness' and some could have more of a grey, than a yellow tint. You won't really know until you look at a particular ring, which is difficult I know as all the main jewellers only seem to do them ready-plated. 9k would probably be a safer bet for less yellow though obviously. Sorry I can't be less vague

- Will the natural "champagne" colour of an unplated white gold ring ever go completely yellow (similar to a yellow-gold ring) over time?

Nope, if a ring is sold as solid white gold, it must be white gold all the way through, so it'll be the same colour all the way through - the different metals are melted and blended together before the ring is formed from them (a bit like mixing yellow and white paint together ) , they're not laid or plated on top of one another so that the colour can rub off and the metal won't 'change' colour either, unless it comes into contact with some really weird chemicals

Good luck finding an un-plated ring - I had to go off the beaten track to find mine as the high street jewellers don't seem to do them. I love it though

Be aware that if you're thinking of buying online, from a country outside the EU, that some countries (America for instance) often use Nickel as one of the white metals they mix with gold. It's banned in Europe because of the very high proportion of people who are allergic to it. I know from experience with a bangle containing nickel that the the skin reaction from it is NASTY. Make sure the gold you buy is nickel free. (shouldn't be a problem in the UK as it's been banned for years.)