How to tell a ring is platinum

[hellofish]

Hello everybody! I''m considering getting a setting for my diamond from a small kiosk in one of those large jewelery districts. One of the vendors quoted me a price for under $400 for a nice platinum ring that he would make. Isn''t that price a little too low? How can I tell that the ring is actually platinum, especially the crown? Does platinum always have "Plat" or "900" or "950" inscribed? If not, is there any other way to tell? Can an appraiser tell? Thanks, everybody!

 

[FireGoddess]

Platinum is significantly heavier than gold, so that''s one giveaway. They are usually stamped PT950 or the like. Is it a plain solitaire? My plain pt solitaire setting cost about that price, but it wasn''t custom.

 

[norman_in_L.A.]

Did you buy the ring?

Let us know what happened!

 

[Love in Bloom]

I think there are several ways to test if an item is platinum. Most of them are done by jewelers or appraisers. They can do a scratch test, melting point test, density test. If you are a do-it-yourself-er, the science geek in me is thinking the easiest way would be to test density. You do this by measuring the gram weight and dividing it by the amount (in milliliters) of water it displaces. I think the density of platinum is 21.4 g/ml.