Hi MK.
Something you might want to ask: When advertising “palladium” are they referring to 950 Palladium or 18K Palladium WG (assuming it’s one of these common “palladium” alloys?).
> 18K Palladium white gold is 75% gold combined with 25% palladium
. It is more workable than nickel wg and wonderful for gemstone setting so benchmen love it. It doesn’t cause irritation; a problem with nickel wg and people with skin conditions.It is noticeably grayer than rhodium-plated wg though. For that reason some choose to rhodium plate palladium wg pieces as well as standard 18K wg so they appear as 'white' as possible.
> 950 Palladium is more pure, like a platinum alloy; it’s 95% Palladium alloyed with 5% Ruthenium by weight. However, not many people work in 950 Palladium
.Though technically not quite as white as Platinum/Iridium most people would need to look hard to see any difference.
2.Either way, if it’s one of the above, that's a pretty big price difference for the palladium vs platinum. Often the difference isn’t just based on commensurate market prices for precious metals. Currently palladium casting alloys are in the mid $30s per dwt and common platinum alloys are in the high $50s, but palladium & platinum pieces often cost nearly the same; far above common gold/wg alloys.This is because they both melt at higher temperatures than gold and require different equipment, different processes and specialized labor skills, both casting and at the bench. Either there is quite a premium for the platinum version or the company manufactures in quantities high enough to separate the price points.
Regarding appearance: When the craftsmanship is top quality any of the common ‘white’ alloys look great and show equally well, but for the extremely picky (not that we have ANY of those people on PS of course
), there are very subtle differences:
>The rhodium plating used on WG is very white (rhodium is the whitest precious metal after silver).
>Platinum-iridium alloys are nearest.
>950 platinum-ru & 950 Palladium are both alloyed with ruthenium.Technically next in whiteness, most people would notice only if they were scrutinized side-by-side.
>18K Palladium White Gold (75% gold, 25% palladium) is notably more gray unless rhodium plated, in which case it shoots back to the top.
Here is a link to an article with some photos.
http://journal.pricescope.com/Articles/47/1/An-Overview-Of-Common-Alloys-Used-In-Jewelry.aspx
Enjoy the journey.