What are the Differences between White Gold and Platinum?
Platinum is a naturally occurring white metal. White gold is created as an alloy of the naturally occurring gold with white metals like silver and palladium to get a white hue. In addition, white gold pieces are often covered with a thin plating of rhodium, a platinum group metal, for strengthening and a whiter appearance. Platinum and white gold resemble each other aesthetically, but differ in composition, density, hardness and other properties.
Platinum is more durable and softer than white gold
It seems impossible, but it’s true! Platinum is infinitely more durable than gold (white gold or yellow gold). For example, every time you brush a gold ring against something or a jeweler polishes it, a bit of gold comes off. Remember your grandfather’s old gold ring? After years of wear, the thick backside of the ring had become thin or broken through. But every time you touch or polish a platinum ring, almost nothing comes off. What happens? With platinum, the metal moves around, or ‘displaces.’ It’s softer than gold.
Advantage
The biggest advantage of white gold over platinum is certainly the cost. Platinum is more expensive because it is rarer and mined much less than gold. Only 160 tons of platinum are mined annually, as opposed to 1,500 tons of gold. Also, platinum is more dense than gold, so the same ring will weigh significantly more in platinum than in gold (and precious metals are priced by weight).
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