Palladium is a pure, rare, naturally white metal like platinum at white gold prices.
If you’re looking for a luxurious, pure, white metal that’s in the platinum family, but for half the price? Marius Nel
Jewellers has exactly what’s right for you: Palladium.
Palladium offers everything that platinum does: the natural white lustre and it’s naturally hypoallergenic. But
palladium doesn’t have the high price tag of platinum. In the past, the affordable alternative to platinum was white
gold. It’s an alloy made of pure yellow gold mixed with other metals to make it white in colour.
Rhodium is then used to give the product a protective, shinier coat. Although beautiful and durable, the rhodium
wears off of the gold over time, and lotions, soaps and normal daily wear accelerate the process. To maintain the
white finish the ring may need to be rhodium-plated by a jeweller as often as once a year.
Why Choose a Palladium ring over a White Gold Ring?
Most people who have purchased a white gold ring did so because they like the fact that gold is a precious metal
and they wanted a white colour metal for their ring. But white gold is not a true white metal.
Think about it…what colour is gold when it comes out of the ground? That’s right, it’s yellow! So to make an 18kt
white gold ring, the jeweller takes 75% pure gold (remember pure gold is bright yellow) and alloys the pure gold
with white metal alloys, like silver and nickel. These alloys “bleach” out the metal leaving it with a slight yellowish
colour. This, white gold is not a true white colour like platinum, palladium, silver, titanium or steel.
The last step before the ring makes it into the jewellers’ gift box, is that the ring is then rhodium plated. Rhodium
plating the ring makes it look like platinum in colour. It’s kind of like chrome plating the bumper on your car. But
the rhodium plating wears off after little time, showing the true colour of the white gold ring. Of course, you can go
to a jeweller and pay to have your ring re-rhodium plated.
Palladium is a naturally white precious metal that does not ever need to be rhodium plated. It will stay white
forever.
Palladium rings are 95% pure. Therefore, palladium rings are much more precious than white gold rings.
Palladium is harder than white gold too, making palladium rings and wedding bands incredibly durable. And
because there are no alloys in a palladium ring that can tarnish and cause spotting, these rings are virtually
tarnish proof.
Palladium rings have better lustre and shine than does a white gold ring. And because the metal holds up to
friction better than white gold, a palladium claw setting will hold up much better and last longer than does a white
gold claw setting. What better to secure your valuable diamonds than a palladium ring?
Palladium can support more intricate designs than white gold can. So for filigree work palladium is the better
choice. Value is another consideration. Even though the price of one gram of pure gold is more than double the
price of palladium, palladium is however 30x rarer than gold.
So purchasing a palladium ring now could prove to be a wise decision.
