platinum

[oddoneout]

I''ve been doing some research and I''m a bit concerned that platinum can be scratched and develop a patina. I am however glad that is strong/durable. What are peoples'' experiences with platinum? Has your jewelry scratched etc.?

Thanks

 

[heather318]

My e-ring is platinum and it is DEFINITELY scratched, but when I took it in to get a stone fixed a few months ago, they buffed my ring for me (without even asking!) and it was like new again with no scratches and was bright white and amazing looking! However, scratches are showing up again..

Overall, I love the platinum because it stays white.. I don''t mind the scratches..

 

[Neveah]

My RHR is platinum.... while I love it, I asked for white gold for my ering and I''m so happy I did. The scratches bother me on the platinum band and while it''s true they can be buffed out it''s a pain to get it done. My white gold (in my opinion!) is much prettier and whiter.
Hope that helps!

 

[vita*dolce]

i have a plat RHR -- it''s definitely a little scratched up, but it''s an heirloom piece so i feel like that''s just part of its charm. i''m definitely going with WG for me e-ring though, i don''t think i''d like scratches on that quite as much.

 

[stepcutnut]

I love Platinum! The patina is part of its charm. I love it''s weight and feel

 

[oddoneout]

I''ve read that the platinum thins a bit when it is polished. Is that true? How bad is the scratching (are the scratches deep or just surface wise)? When it scratches does it just dull?

Thanks

 

[stepcutnut]

I've been told that Platinum doesn't scratch like gold, with gold some of it is removed when scratched and with Platinum the metal just moves around and is displaced-so you don't lose the weight. I've only experienced micro scratches, nothing deep on my Plat.

 

[SuLi]

My ering is platinum and I love it! Sure, there are scratches and slight patina, but I think it makes the ring unique. For some reason, I''m not a big fan of things that are too "flashy" and "shiny", so I like that it''s a more subtle metal, and lets the stone shine on its own.

 

[MMMD]

I have slight patina but that''s part of the charm. I''m too hard on my jewelry to have rings I wear every single day to be white gold. I''d be replating them and having the dents fixed at least once a year.

 

[gemgirl]

Date: 9/11/2008 8:15:44 AM
Author: stepcutnut
I''ve been told that Platinum doesn''t scratch like gold, with gold some of it is removed when scratched and with Platinum the metal just moves around and is displaced-so you don''t lose the weight. I''ve only experienced micro scratches, nothing deep on my Plat.

Platinum won''t scratch the same way gold does. With platinum, the scratches are usually finer. When having a piece polished, a micro fine layer of gold will be permanently removed. When polishing platinum, because of it''s very tight molecular structure, the platinum is just redistributed. You don''t lose any metal when polishing platinum.

 

[SailorsSweet<3]

My promise ring is white gold and I''ve been very happy with it for the past 1+ year. I was actually admiring it the other day on my hand and how it still looks as crisp and clean as it did the day I received it. It hasn''t scratched and has a very cool sharp tone to it. Im not sure if it has a rhodium coating or not, I would assume it does. I heard that wears eventually and would have to be reapplied for the shine and platinum-like luster to be achieved once again. The jeweler that my FF purchased the ring from gave him paperwork stating we could bring the ring back in for free adjustments if it ever started to loose the white gold appearance. So, on one hand, with the platinum you''re buffing away at your ring to remove the scratches and on the other hand youre possibly adding to a white gold ring to retain that pretty metal shine. I guess it really comes down to what youre comfortable wearing/maintaining. Maybe you should ask your jeweler how much buffing/displacement a ring can withstand before it starts to have slight distortions or disproportions?

 

[ysj99]

I have a mix of white gold and platinum jewelry. My promise ring and necklace are white gold, but my diamond studs, tiny hoops, and e-ring are platinum. I love white metals, and decided to go with platinum on my "lifer" pieces.

I leave my studs, tiny platinum hoops and e-ring on 24/7, only taking them off for cleaning. I''ve had the studs the longest, over 4 years now, and they haven''t developed a patina, they are still shiny as the day I received them. I just love the platinum for its durability and whiteness. Next to my platinum pieces, the white gold pieces aren''t as bright white.

It all comes down to preference, but it''s important to take into account how much wear and tear the piece of jewelry will go through. I plan to get my w-band in platinum, also because I think it''s a "lifer" piece!

 

[angel_nieves]

I like both Plat and white gold. However due to my body chemistry white gold starts to get a warm yellow note to it

. I have several plat pieces that are from the 1920-30 and one of those pieces never has been polished and yes it does have a patina to it is still a lovely white metal. I also love the heft of plat.

 

[Maisie]

I originally had a platinum setting and it didn''t really scratch much in the 6 months I wore it. I did take it off for heavy duty stuff like housework and gardening.

When I bought my new setting I got white gold. It was a cost thing otherwise I would have gotten platinum. I am now going back to platinum. I just miss the weight of it.

 

[moobaby]

This has been my experience so far. My original wedding set was platinum. My husband's wedding band is platinum as well. The patina actually looks good on our wedding bands, they still look white and we've had them on for the last 6 years. It definitely gives my husband's ring "character" and the nice part is I will never have to take his ring in to get replated/polished/whatever.

However, I HATED the way my engagement ring looked. I prefer that nice shiny white character on my engagement ring. I would take it to get rebuffed and polished, but within a week my scratches would start coming back and in a month I thought it looked beaten and worn. I dealt with it for the last 8 years. Now to be granted, I never really liked my engagement ring much anyways.

It was always a cheap temporary setting til I figured out what I really wanted. I'm giving white gold a try at the moment, so we'll see how well it lasts for me.

Here is a link to my thread with my old ring in it. The first picture with the baby is my husband's wedding band and my original engagement ring. You can see the patina on both of the rings. (I had given up on getting my ring polished, so my patina has been developed over the last 2 years. My husband's ring has not been polished in our 6 years of marraige.)
https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/new-here-want-to-show-off-my-ring.91881/

 

[musey]

I prefer the color and weight of platinum to that of (white) gold, and really value the safety of setting stones in plat vs. gold. Patina doesn''t bother me, in fact, I rather like it. Besides, even in solitaires, it''s mostly the underside of the ring that gets "dull" because that''s what comes into contact with other objects.

So it was platinum for me.

I''m like ysj99 in that I have white gold for my less important pieces and platinum for my most important ones, which as of now are just my e-ring and wedding band.

To your questions:

Date: 9/11/2008 8:09:23 AM
Author: oddoneout
I''ve read that the platinum thins a bit when it is polished. Is that true?

No. That''s true of gold alloys, though. Platinum is softer and "furrows" when scratched. Polishing smushes the metal around until it''s smooth again--all metal is preserved, just redistributed. Gold snaps when scratched/hit, and polishing removes the rough edges, therefore reducing the amount of metal each time.

Gold also can thin just through (a lifetime of) wear.

How bad is the scratching (are the scratches deep or just surface wise)? When it scratches does it just dull?

Obviously it depends how hard you''re hitting/scuffing it, but on average it''ll be lots of teeny, tiny surface scratches--that''s where the "dull" look of the patina comes from, all the tiny scratches compounded next to one another.

Gold, on the other hand, since it''s harder/more brittle will only scratch from the hard hits--so a scratch on gold tends to be more of a deep gash.

 

[JSM]

I agree with the others and think it''s definitely a personal preference issue. Personally, the patina really bothers me and I prefer the ''shiny'' look of white gold. Don''t like the rhodium plating part, but for me it was worth the trade off.

 

[icekid]

I loooove my platinum, and for more "important" ring (e-ring) I definitely prefer it. The weight of it feels very substantial. And while I do like the platinum patina, it's not really an issue when we're talking about pave since you don't really see platinum- just nice, secure diamonds! Also, as other have mentioned a scratch in platinum does not remove metal, whereas it does for gold. Thus, again, for pieces that I would like to pass down someday, I am more inclinded to go with platinum.

For my RHR in the works, I will go with gold just for the sake of budget.


eta- I should have read a bit further down and just said I agree w/ musey!

 

[oddoneout]

Wow thank you everyone for your (varied) responses. Does anyone have white gold that is not plated and knows how it would compare to the platinum?

Thanks

 

[HollyS]

I was so upset with my first scratch (two years ago) on my platinum ring; but I got over it. It really has held up well; unlike my 18K wedding band which is going to be replated soon. If you can afford platinum, go with platinum.

 

[musey]

Date: 9/11/2008 4:13:12 PM
Author: oddoneout
Wow thank you everyone for your (varied) responses. Does anyone have white gold that is not plated and knows how it would compare to the platinum?

Thanks

It will, of course, depend greatly on the alloy. But just for argument's sake, here's a good comparison (from this thread):

 

[musey]

Here''s another thread you might find interesting:

Pictures of Platinum Patina?

There are lots more if you do a search.

 

[Maisie]

Here are some photos of my 14k wg diamond ring (3 months old) and my husband's 14k wg wedding band (16 months old)

He has worn it constantly and never had it replated.

 

[Maisie]

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[Maisie]

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[diamondseeker2006]

I just wanted to add that there are different platinum alloys. Some are more durable than others! When I was researching this, I first found info on Mark Morrell''s site:

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

I think much of the platinum we see today is the softer 95/5 iridium which really scratches easily and dents. Mark uses the 90/10 iridium which is harder. Tiffany uses the 95/5 ruthenium which is even better at resisting scratches and dents. I think I asked Leon Mege and I believe he uses the same as Tiffany.

So my advice is, find out exactly what the platinum and alloy content is. It makes a big difference!

 

[anyname]

I love the weight of my platinum engagement and wedding rings. i haven''t noticed any major dents or scratches on either ring. However, before i got married my jeweler buffed my engagement ring so it would look as new as my wedding ring, and it''s only been a little over a month.
My sister in law has a yellow gold engagement ring and wedding band and her wedding band is rubbing on the prongs of her engagement ring and has actually left a indentation on the prongs. She''s only been married for a year and a half. I don''t know if anyone else has experienced this, maybe she''s just extra hard on her rings.

 

[Maisie]

I just looked back over those photos I posted. I should point out that my DH''s ring doesn''t look that dirty in person! I think it must be shadow or something!