White gold or palladium? Please help!

[cleverworm]

I reserved a 1.04 Ct, H diamond from excel.Now here is the question about metal selections of the setting. For tiffany replica setting, they have 14 K white gold ($725), 18 K white gold ($925) palladium ($825) and platinum ($1355).

http://www.exceldiamonds.com/-Engagement-Rings-5/Solitaire-Diamond-Engagement-Rings-11/Tiffany-Engagement-Rings-640.html?add_diamond_id=274735

I think I am going to pick up either 14K gold or palladium. Palladium is a real white metal and may require less mainteness of redip (not like white gold). But Judah in excel told me that palladium may not as tough as white gold and may require more care in everyday wear. Does anybody have any experience of a palladium ring? Would it be a unwise choice for it?

Thank you!

 

[LD]

I have some palladium earrings. Although these have been rhodiumed repeatedly, I still find they are more grey looking than 18k w/gold or platinum. I wouldn''t get anything else in palladium now because I''m very colour sensitive to this in gold. They do appear to be wearing well but it''s difficult to compare earrings with the sort of wear and tear a ring might have.

 

[yssie]

14k gold can be pretty brittle, from what I've heard, so I might be nervous about using it for an engagement ring that will be worn everywhere, especially if the prongs are 14k too - little bangs and bumps are just inevitable. Most people choose plat. heads with their yellow gold shanks if they want a white head for exactly this reason: a platinum prong will bend to conform when accidentally bashed against the door rather than snap right off.

We were debating between palladium and 18k wg for fiance's wedding band. We went with palladium for two reasons, A) we didn't want to be worrying about re-plating wg and FI wanted a 'white' ring, B) it is a plain 6mm band, so we wouldn't ever have to worry about repairing or even re-sizing the setting, we'd just get him another one. We did find that most jewellers in the area were very hesitant to do any work on a complicated palladium e-ring, or we'd have gone with that instead of plat for me and saved a bunch.