New problems with palladium?

[Teenytaru]

Hello,

I''''ve been shopping around for an ering for a while now, and was thinking of palladium as a good option. I had gotten a quote from one B&M store here in Seattle for a Jeff Cooper design and a Simon G design in both palladium and white gold. Today, six days later, they told me that they are no longer quoting for palladium because they are finding out that it is a bad metal. He made it sound that this is a new finding... that people are finding the rings aren''''t holding up as well, that they draw in heat and blacken when work is done on them, and that they can get porous when heated. Does anyone know of this? I''''m not really sure how such a big change happened in less than a week... He also told me their quotes are only good for 48 hours because the prices of metals are changing so rapidly at the moment...

I tried getting a quote from another store and they responded as such:

I wanted to follow up with you about your inquiry of the Jeff Cooper designs. I understand you have an 8mm round center stone already so the prices below are to accommodate that in the ring. I have both Palladium and 18kt prices for you. I do suggest going with white gold (Jeff Cooper uses a Palladium alloy mixture rather than Nickel, so the ring stays crisp white longer...less yellowing) instead of going with Palladium as your metal choice. Palladium is hard to work with. It is almost a "one time make" metal. You can not size palladium and you can not re-tip or re-work palladium...More often than not you will burn the metal or the minute you add heat to the metal (which happens any time its worked on) your ring with become contaminated turning the ring into a "swiss cheese of sorts" with pits and holes. It does have a better price point, but doesn''''t nearly have the advantages that white gold does.

3100 (.41ctw)
Palladium: $2450
18kt: $2850

3101 (.70ctw)
Palladium: $3750
18kt: $4200

There is also a $250 setting fee to set your own diamond. Other places charge up to $600, but I will take care of you.


There is another B&M store that does mostly custom designs, and they said they''''ve had no problems with palladium, and in fact often recommend it. Needless to say, I''''m a bit confused.

Anyone have any thoughts on the issue? Is there some kind of palladium craziness going on?

 

[jessa]

my ring is palladium. Its a Scott Kay solitaire purchased from ben bridge and they had absolutely no problem re-sizing it and setting the stone FI brought in. I have been looking for a palladium wedding band and none of the stores I have been in have said anything poorly about it.

 

[lknvrb4]

I have palladium rings and never had a problem. I was told when getting a quote from Leon Mege that palladium is harder to work with and he won''t use it. Never heard of the other problems you listed though.

 

[luvmyhalo]

Side note about this quote...

"There is also a $250 setting fee to set your own diamond. Other places charge up to $600, but I will take care of you."


Does this seem crazy to anyone else?

 

[Lula]

Date: 3/16/2010 10:08:37 AM
Author: luvmyhalo
Side note about this quote...


''There is also a $250 setting fee to set your own diamond. Other places charge up to $600, but I will take care of you.''



Does this seem crazy to anyone else?

Yes, I thought that was weird. And, to my knowledge, most places don''t charge $600 either. Most places charge what she was quoted ($250) or less.

 

[RaiKai]

Date: 3/16/2010 10:08:37 AM
Author: luvmyhalo
Side note about this quote...


''There is also a $250 setting fee to set your own diamond. Other places charge up to $600, but I will take care of you.''



Does this seem crazy to anyone else?

Yes, that seems awfully high to me.

When I inquired about setting fees they were usually around $100 - $150 at most to set into a stock setting. Fees to set into a setting they were making custom would be between $0 and $100.

 

[RaiKai]

I think it is a comfort and experience thing. That, and it IS more work to work properly with palladium. There are ways to eliminate the porosity issues, and the darkening can be polished out.

It would not be my preference for metal (I am more of a white gold girl), however, given that many reputable designers work with it (i.e. Scott Kay, Simon G) I really think that many of the issues from the past (palladium has been used for a long time but has had its more and less popular eras) have been worked out by those who took the time to learn how to work with the metal.

It sounds like maybe that B&M store has not learned how to work with the metal yet and is blaming the metal rather than taking the time to learn how to work with its particular properties. I'd go somewhere who has some experience with it.

I find some of their other comments to be a bit "peculiar" and off-putting as well and hint at some either inexperience, or them being a bit misinformed?

A gold/palladium alloy is generally less "yellow" than poor quality white gold alloys(and many nickel alloy whites are VERY VERY white - like X-1 - and don't need plating). However, their comments on it staying crisp-white longer are confusing and a bit misleading. That makes it sound as if they are rhodium plating it as even gold/palladium alloys are not crisp-white (they are either a more brownish white or grayish white depending on what other alloys are also used in it from what I have seen of it when I compared them at a jewelers recently). If the gold is rhodium plated, the "crisp-white" will last as long as the rhodium plating lasts. The metal underneath will be whatever colour that particular gold alloy is...if it is not very yellow it won't be very yellow even if all the rhodium plating is off. It may be more gray or brownish than yellow if it is a palladium alloy. If it is more grayish, it might not be as noticeable for a while that the plating is wearing off. It is easy enough to get it re-plated if you prefer it plated.

Good quality white gold alloys don't need to be plated at all unless it is a look you prefer. They will not be as "bright white" as you may prefer or are used to in seeing with rhodium plated white gold, but they should not turn "more yellow" over time either. Some people prefer the look of it without plating as well as it has a "warmer" white look to it than the bright cool white of platinum, rhodium.

There are SOME B&M jewelers though who do use poor quality white gold (or even yellow gold) and plate it, so if that is their experience, then maybe that is where there comments come from (and not someone I would want to do business with).

I find this link has some good comparisons of gold/palladium, a nickel white gold (precise white) and platinum, etc:

Link to Metal Comparison

 

[stepcutgirl]

I recently had some designer settings brought into a local B&M to look at. I had the option to buy in WG, plat and palladium. Because of things I had heard here and there I was die hard I want platinum. I tend to think this would make the jeweler more money as well unless he was selling them to me at his cost and I sorta highly doubt that and he sold me on the palladium! He told me in his experience (he works in all 3 metals) that palladium will keep its finish longer and will not bend as easily as platinum. He said he has had several customers come back not expecting the down falls of platinum and that he hasn't yet heard any bad reviews on customers who bought palladium.

Any metal has downfalls and I'm taking a little bit of a gamble and getting my wedding set in palladium but I've weighed the pros and cons and for me right now palladium is the better bet. I also talked to Pearlmans who we most all respect here and I asked them their opinion of palladium and I was told that while it is a harder metal to work with this does not count as a disadvantage to the customer and that as long as you send your ring back to the manufacturer for work done there shouldn't be much of a down side to this metal choice. Well that came from Julian. Bill told me he just didn't like the metal, when I asked why he said because he's a romantic and it's new and that he doesn't understand the metal.

 

[krockie]

I recently had my palladium wedding band and e-ring resized to accommodate a lovely new case of arthritis (at 31, no less!) with zero issues. The jeweler also re-adjusted the spacing of my prongs at my request for more symmetry in my custom design, which involved un-setting and re-setting the diamond. No issues there, either.

 

[Teenytaru]

Thank you all so much for your responses!

I think I am going to end up going with a different jeweler, one who does a lot of custom work and doesn''t have any problems with palladium (the owner''s ring is in palladium).

I don''t know what the deal with the other place is. I had been strongly considering buying from them, but the about face on palladium, from suggesting it as a good alternative to saying they weren''t selling them anymore because they were bad, in the space of a week, just raises too many red flags. It makes me think that now that we''ve been back to see two specific rings in their store maybe four times now, that they smell a sale and want it in white gold for some reason. Just weirds me out a bit. But at least it made the decision somewhat easier!

Thanks again for all the help! I''m sure I''ll have an engagement story and some ring pictures in 3-7 weeks when the ring is done