Grooms will start wearing their wedding ring on day one of the marriage. If you want to go first class, buy the king of metals - platinum. Platinum is a real investment, is hefty and will keeps its shine. You'll pay a bit more for it, but it's probably worth the investment.
Platinum Wedding Rings
Platinum wedding bands are hefty, tarnish free and manage to look like a million bucks. What more could you ask for in a wedding ring? The principal advantage to a platinum wedding ring is that it's exceptionally strong and looks unlike anything else in the market.
What metals go into a Platinum Wedding Ring, exactly?
Typically, platinum, the element, is alloyed with some other metal, similar to the way white gold is an alloy of elemental "yellow" gold and some other metal (sometimes even platinum). In the case of platinum, alloys include palladium, iridium or ruthenium (depending on the commodity price.), however they are used in small quantities in order to maintain platinum's high purity. Platinum wedding rings are not measured in karats, contrary to gold wedding bands. Look for platinum wedding bands that have "PT 900" or "950 Plat" imprinted on the inside of the band. This means that the wedding ring is 90 or 95% pure platinum, and 5% of some other metal.
Compare this to a typical gold wedding ring or gold engagement ring which will be between 14k and 18k. Translation: As much as 42% of your precious little wedding rings could be made of something other than gold. That's not the case for platinum wedding bands.
Platinum is rare, but platinum wedding bands will be more costly
Platinum is the most expensive wedding band material. That's because platinum is exceedingly rare. How rare? 30 times rarer than gold. According to Platinum Guild International, the industry group representing platinum jewelers and the industry, "It is estimated that if all the platinum in the world were poured into one Olympic swimming pool it would be scarcely deep enough to cover your ankles." This is in comparison to gold, which would fill three Olympic swimming pools, and beer, which would fill multiple...oceans.
The Price of Platinum Wedding Rings
The price of platinum has recently gone up quite substantially as the economic markets have taken a turn for the worse. Because commodity prices in general have skyrocketed, the price for platinum has gone up almost $800 per ounce since December 2007. (Picture a hockey stick.)
A recent survey of prices, however, indicates that platinum can still be had without breaking the bank. A 3mm wide platinum band cost $400 at a leading online retailer, whereas a more traditional 6mm wedding band was selling for $1600. From the groom's perspective, however, it's not a bad investment for the only important piece of jewelry that a groom is going to sport.
An Investment in Platinum
A platinum wedding ring is an investment because you're purchasing the highest quality of metal for your rings - no plating will be required down the road (as opposed to white gold which is plated with rhodium that eventually wears off). Platinum also "feels" like it's worth a lot. Platinum is heavy stuff. How heavy? Well, a 6" cube of platinum weighs about as much as you did in the tenth grade (around 165 pounds!) Platinum wedding bands will not lose any metal as they get scratched or dinged - the metal is just displaced. This contrasts with gold, where every scratch represents a potential loss of some of the metal in the wedding band.
Here's what you can expect after one year of wear. As you can see, in this somewhat un-scientific photo, platinum holds up very very well. It is platinum, after all.
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