Is yellow gold under-appreciated?

[Imdanny]

I have a choice between getting an 18kt gold or platinum ring. It's not an easy decision because I like them both. The gold is 575/1025 the price of the platinum, to get a simple band of fine quality.

I just go back and forth. Platinum is heavier. Platinum pick ups colors. 18 kt gold is not as heavy as platinum but still heavy. Gold shines. Gold is easy to take care of.

Basically I can have the same ring- it will be as well made either way- in either metal, and getting one means not getting the other.

My SO is buying the ring and wants platinum, but has told me I can have whichever one I want. He doesn't want what he calls "a milled ring." He thinks he would rather substitute metals than do that (yet he doesn't like gold). He's also said I could try a platinum milled ring because it is completely refundable (but he doesn't like the idea). To be honest, I don't want two rings, I don't want a ring with both metals, but one choice means giving up the other. There is the factor that $575, in these economic times, is better (to my mind) than spending $1050. But I want him to be happy too.

What do I do? It's confusing.

 

[Upgradable]

I love yellow gold! I have both, but if I had to give up one color, I''d give up white before I''d give up my yellow!

 

[musey]

I don't think it's necessarily under-appreciated, just currently out of fashion as far as bridal jewelry (it's very "in" for fashion jewelry). I think that is changing, though... it would make sense, these things seem to go in about 20-year waves, at least for the last couple of white/yellow cycles.

No one can tell you which metal to choose, and I personally don't think that the economy is a reason to choose one over the other. You can reason through it all you like, but in the end it has to be about your own preference (and your future fiance's, to some degree, as well).

Have you seen the setting either in pictures or in person, in both metals? Some settings look better, at least to an individual's eye, in one metal than in another. Do you feel that this is true of the setting you're looking at? If not, and they're still both equally beautiful, what about a future wedding band? Do you have a design you like for that, and if so, does it look better to you in one metal color than in the other?

Another thing you could try is to just go try on simple solitaire + wedding band sets in both YG and plat, back and forth, until you start gravitating toward one.


In the end, as you know, there is no "wrong" answer. Both are absolutely beautiful options. There are benefits and drawbacks to both metals, so in the end, the only outweighing "benefit" is that you just plain love it more.

 

[diamondseeker2006]

I wouldn''t consider platinum unless it is the plat. with ruthenium alloy. That is harder than plat/iridium and it will show less scratching. Tiffany makes them out of the plat/ruth.

 

[lyra]

I think yellow gold is just as classic as platinum. If I had to choose between white or yellow, I''d choose yellow because it will look the same 20 years from now. Platinum has upkeep, just as white gold does. I went with WG for my reset, and it definitely was the right choice for the style I wanted, but I actually find I prefer the look of yellow gold in general. Now that white metal is so trendy, it''s nice to see things not the norm. I''ve never liked being totally trendy anyway. If I do another reset down the road, it will be yellow gold, which is what I started with!

 

[musey]

Date: 2/13/2009 1:06:18 PM
Author: diamondseeker2006
I wouldn't consider platinum unless it is the plat. with ruthenium alloy. That is harder than plat/iridium and it will show less scratching. Tiffany makes them out of the plat/ruth.

DS, do you think 950 plat/ir is "bad?" I've been reading a bit more about this lately, the different plat alloys were not something I was aware of while we were shopping. My wedding band is 950 plat/ru but my engagement ring is 950 plat/ir. Are there things to worry about with 950 plat/ir, besides the normal patina issues that come with plat?

I understand that 900 plat/ir is a whole different monster, and what Mark Morrell uses (over 950 plat with ru OR ir).

(Absolutely not intending to threadjack, I thought it might be valuable info for the OP otherwise I wouldn't have brought it up here!)

 

[AprilBaby]

I only wear yg so I am biased. I am also older. Depends on your skin tone (mine looks horrible in white metals) and your age. If you look good in earth tones, go yellow, if you look good in blues, bold pinks, sky colors...go white.

 

[makemepretty]

I think yellow gold can be beautiful. I know someone who has a thick yellow gold engagement ring, I''m always looking at it when she''s around because it''s shiny and pretty(I''m like a squirrel in that aspect, attracted to shiny things). Anyway, while it is very very nice, I think yellow gold is a dated look.s Most heirloom pieces are white not yellow. Yellow seems less expensive. Platinum will always be valued more. It''s like gemstones are sparkly and just as nice as diamonds BUT not equal. If you want something classic, timeless and will be passed down.. platinum is the way to go. Of my two sister in laws, the one with the platinum hasn''t had any upkeep. The one with the yellow gold has to get it polished once a year to keep it shiny.

 

[AGBF]

Imdanny, there is an old thread called Is Yellow Gold Going Out Of Style? that I thought you might find interesting. It addressed the same

basic question which you are asking, but it did so a few years ago before high karat gold became so popular. In those days it was still quite

unusual to find a 24K hammered gold bangle bracelet for sale. Now one can find one on any street conrer! (Well, that may be a slight

exaggeration, but within the next 15 minutes I could easily find five sites on the Internet where one where could buy one!) There are several

other good Pricescope threads about yellow gold besides this one, too. I keep an eye on them since I am a yellow gold lover. I just bought

myself a pair of 14K yellow gold earrings today as a birthday present .



Deborah

 

[diamondringlover]

Most of my jewerly is yellow gold, I am older as well, but I must say I have never had an upkeep problem with yellow gold. Now with that being said, I think if I had the chance to redo my rings or get remarried I think I would like to try platinum, white gold sounds like to much upkeep for me

 

[AGBF]

Date: 2/13/2009 3:26:28 PM
Author: makemepretty

Most heirloom pieces are white not yellow.
Yellow seems less expensive.
Platinum will always be valued more.
If you want something classic, timeless and will be passed down.. platinum is the way to go.

make mepretty, I think you may be taking the short view of things, historically speaking. For many millennia kings and raiders, emperors and pirates valued gold and jewels (even before anyone knew how to cut those jewels). They didn''t value platinum! Many cultures also valued silver. I think to call platinum "timeless" is looking at it from a 2009 point of view. Not that I don''t like platinum! But I have come to realize-just in the past 5 years-why Eastern cultures have valued pure gold (24K gold) for so long and why Chinese people think that anything less (in yellow gold) is just costume jewelry!


Deborah

 

[AGBF]

This is the St. Edward''s crown which is used to crown British kings and queens; it has been used to crown every British monarch since Her Majesty, Queen Victoria. It is made out of gold and encrusted with gems. One presumes it wasn''t made made on the cheap .

Deborah

 

[HollyS]

Yellow gold is classic and will never be ''out of style''. Styles will be fleeting, and tastes will change. But classic mountings will always be a perfect fit, no matter the year. I was engaged briefly in 1979, when YG was the metal of choice; that set would still be good looking today. That particular diamond however. . . . . . . well, I''ve since been educated.

If you want a white metal look, I would go with platinum instead of white gold. I wish we could have afforded a platinum band (like the eternity band I have in WG), but we were pushing the envelope on what we could reasonably afford to pay cash for. It has come to my attention, in less than 18 mos of wear, that I will have to continually get my w-band replated. Just my body chemistry. My plat e-ring, however, has never changed ''patinas'' on me. Still white and shiny.

If I could only afford gold, and I was looking today, I would seriously consider yellow gold. It ''ages'' nicely IMO.

 

[diamondseeker2006]

Date: 2/13/2009 1:27:27 PM
Author: musey

Date: 2/13/2009 1:06:18 PM
Author: diamondseeker2006
I wouldn''t consider platinum unless it is the plat. with ruthenium alloy. That is harder than plat/iridium and it will show less scratching. Tiffany makes them out of the plat/ruth.

DS, do you think 950 plat/ir is ''bad?'' I''ve been reading a bit more about this lately, the different plat alloys were not something I was aware of while we were shopping. My wedding band is 950 plat/ru but my engagement ring is 950 plat/ir. Are there things to worry about with 950 plat/ir, besides the normal patina issues that come with plat?

I understand that 900 plat/ir is a whole different monster, and what Mark Morrell uses (over 950 plat with ru OR ir).

(Absolutely not intending to threadjack, I thought it might be valuable info for the OP otherwise I wouldn''t have brought it up here!)

Musey, I think the softer plat. will show more patina. But your e-ring has diamond melee, so it probably won''t have much of an effect. I always hated my mom''s plain platinum rings because they were so dark gray. But then I came here and read up on the alloys, and found out that Leon, MM, and Tiffany do not use the 95/5 iridium combination that we generally see. Read about the alloys and hardness here:

http://www.mwmjewelry.com/platinum_purity.htm

This is more important, I think, on platinum pieces with a polished finish, such as my solitaire from Leon. All I can say is that my SIL''s stock WF rings were very gray after a year and mine are as shiny as the day that I got them. So I definitely consider the alloy when the piece involves a plain band without stones.

The only other thing I have heard from two jewelers was that they had trouble with lost melee in Tacori settings, probably because of the softness of the platinum used to make those delicate settings. So after all that, I narrowed my search to settings with 95plat/5ruth. or the 900plat/10irid. that MM uses. I think the vast majority of people shoping for platinum have no knowledge of this whatsoever, and most sales associates certainly would not know!

 

[diamondseeker2006]

Date: 2/13/2009 4:08:06 PM
Author: diamondrnglover
Most of my jewerly is yellow gold, I am older as well, but I must say I have never had an upkeep problem with yellow gold. Now with that being said, I think if I had the chance to redo my rings or get remarried I think I would like to try platinum, white gold sounds like to much upkeep for me

Ditto to being older and having mostly yellow gold! The thing I do love about it is that it is almost maintenance free and stays shiny forever!

However, I chose to go with platinum when I got a new set of rings for our 30th anniversary. I have dark hair and fair skin, and the white metals really look better on me. So I have been gradually adding pieces so that I have adequate white metal pieces to wear with the rings.

 

[musey]

Yes I'd seen that on the MWM site very recently... someone else posted a question about plat alloys and I started searching for and reading old threads, clicking on links, etc. etc. I saw an old post of yours talking about it "turning grey," and was hoping you'd expand on that - thank you for that.

My ring is polished on the lower half, and I haven't experienced much scratching/patina since its last polish right before my wedding (last oct).

Anyway, I was primarily concerned about issues with prong tightness with this alloy, since I had to have them tightened twice within a couple of months last year. Just wondering if that issue could have anything to do with the alloy. Idle wonderment.

Again, sorry for the slightly off-topic line of thought, OP, again I wouldn't discuss it here but thought it might be relevant to your decision.

 

[purrfectpear]

This is just a generalization as everyone will have their own preference, but style-wise; yellow gold = your mom''s ring, white gold or platinum = younger

I haven''t worn yellow gold since the 80''s

You should get what makes YOU happy

 

[AGBF]

Date: 2/13/2009 8:19:49 PM
Author: purrfectpear

This is just a generalization as everyone will have their own preference, but style-wise; yellow gold = your mom's ring, white gold or platinum = younger

purrfectpear, I think that used to be true...but no longer is. I am going to post some links for the World Gold Council and Gold Inspirations, an offshoot. I think that you will see that a lot of the designers who are discussed at great length on Pricescope (and with the most salivating) are currently working in gold and making a fortune on it. The everyday engagement ring may still be platinum, but the woman on the cutting edge of fashion is wearing gold, so that will soon change.

At least that is how I am going to call it. If we both live another five years and the economy is good enough for people to be buying jewelry at all at that time, we can see what young women are then choosing for their engagement rings!


The World Gold Council


The World Gold Council Jewelry


Gold Inspirations (Jewelry Style Magazine)

(If you click on the Gold Insoirations link and look to your left you will see a place where you can click "Designers". That will show you the work of several cutting edge jewelry deigners working in gold...and the photography is smashing! Right now one of the jewelers whose work is pictured is Gurhan. There are around five different jewelers featured, however, and the jewelers featured will change as different editions of Gold Inspirations come out.)




Deborah

 

[musey]

Date: 2/13/2009 8:36:11 PM
Author: AGBF
The everyday engagement ring may still be platinum, but the woman on the cutting edge of fashion is wearing gold, so that will soon change.

Like Scarlett Johansson

I love her gold solitaire (can't tell if it's rose or yellow).

I think it will be interesting to see how many people loving white gold & platinum these days will be pondering YG re-sets in 10-15 years, and how many will still love their white metals. I've always loved white metals, so I don't think that that would change with fashion, but who knows?

 

[Dancing Fire]

Date: 2/13/2009 12:33:55 PM
Author: musey
I don''t think it''s necessarily under-appreciated, just currently out of fashion as far as bridal jewelry (it''s very ''in'' for fashion jewelry). I think that is changing, though... it would make sense, these things seem to go in about 20-year waves, at least for the last couple of white/yellow cycles.

yup, YG will be back in style soon.

 

[marcy]

Date: 2/13/2009 11:51:37 AM
Author: Upgradable
I love yellow gold! I have both, but if I had to give up one color, I''d give up white before I''d give up my yellow!

Me too.

 

[arjunajane]

Just to add a different POV to most saying here YG is for "your mum" or older people - I chose a YG ering when I was 24, now I''m 25 and buy the majority of my jewellery in YG

 

[Imdanny]

Date: 2/13/2009 4:20:24 PM
Author: AGBF
For many millennia kings and raiders, emperors and pirates valued gold and jewels (even before anyone knew how to cut those jewels).

Deborah

You know why I like yellow gold. You get it. I want to be a part of that!

I like platinum too. The color, the finish, the way it reflects color very subtly, and the weight.

You know, I would just go with gold, and forget about it, but how do I get him to change his mind? Or do you think I could go with his offer of "it's your ring, you choose" even though I don't think he means it and wants platinum?

Now we're getting somewhere!

PS- thanks everyone!

 

[makemepretty]

Buy what you love, I don''t think anyone should ever buy a piece of jewelry for any other reason than they absolutely love it! It just seemed to me that when people post old, antique pieces they all seem white. Very rarely have I seen yellow ones, or maybe the yellow ones just don''t stand out to me. Don''t ever buy something because it''s "cheaper" or "more expensive", that shouldn''t be a deciding reason in purchase. Buy what YOU love, not other peoples opinions.

 

[Upgradable]

Date: 2/13/2009 8:19:49 PM
Author: purrfectpear
This is just a generalization as everyone will have their own preference, but style-wise; yellow gold = your mom''s ring, white gold or platinum = younger

I haven''t worn yellow gold since the 80''s

You should get what makes YOU happy

You know, though I frequently personally have other opinions than PP, I love that she''s never shy to post exactly what she thinks!

Totally disagree with your first sentence, but tipping my hat to you anyway!!!

 

[coatimundi_org]

I think we are in a "wear whatever you want" phase in our culture. Look at fashion and all of the amalgamations--I've seen several decades mixed together to make one cohesive look.

I think we are entering an all-metals-are-a-go period, and it's FANtastic!

Get what you really want--what will make you happy every time you look at it.

 

[Lady_Disdain]

Date: 2/13/2009 4:20:24 PM
Author: AGBF


make mepretty, I think you may be taking the short view of things, historically speaking. For many millennia kings and raiders, emperors and pirates valued gold and jewels (even before anyone knew how to cut those jewels). They didn''t value platinum! Many cultures also valued silver. I think to call platinum ''timeless'' is looking at it from a 2009 point of view. Not that I don''t like platinum! But I have come to realize-just in the past 5 years-why Eastern cultures have valued pure gold (24K gold) for so long and why Chinese people think that anything less (in yellow gold) is just costume jewelry!


Deborah

I think your statement is rather misleading. For all those millenia, in European societies, platinum was simply not known. European scientists first came into contact and began studying it in the mid 18th century. Chabeneau, the first person to isolate pure platinum and to work it, immediately launched an enterprise to work and sell platinum objects.

 

[AGBF]

Date: 2/15/2009 8:31:32 AM
Author: Lady_Disdain

I think your statement is rather misleading. For all those millenia, in European societies, platinum was simply not known.

So what did I say that was misleading?

Deborah

 

[AGBF]

Date: 2/13/2009 3:26:28 PM
Author: makemepretty

Most heirloom pieces are white not yellow.
Yellow seems less expensive.
Platinum will always be valued more.
If you want something classic, timeless and will be passed down.. platinum is the way to go.

I thought I would bring this up once again to show the posting to which I was responding. I was not writing in a vacuum when I wrote that gold, not platinum, had been valued for many millennia. makemepretty had asserted that "heirloom pieces" were platinum, not gold. I simply disagreed with that. The reason I disagreed with that is that platinum is a new metal, which was the subject of your posting. No one valued it in ancient societies or in medieval or Renaissance Europe. Any "heirlooms" made of platinum are of recent vintage.

Deborah

 

[Imdanny]

I think she just meant you said they didn''t value platinum but they didn''t know about it until the 18th century so it wasn''t a fair statement in the sense that they didn''t NOT value platinum, they just didn''t know about it. It doesn''t change the fact that for millennia and across countless civilizations people valued gold and made beautiful objects with it. I take Deborah''s point, however said.