Are Palladium Wedding Rings Better Than Gold Or Platinum?

Like the look of platinum wedding rings but not the price tag? You may want to consider a wedding ring crafted from palladium. Over the last few years mens palladium wedding bands have become increasingly popular for many good reasons.

Firstly, palladium comes from the same rare metal family as platinum. Palladium is a naturally occurring shiny, white metal, which like platinum, means it does not have to be plated with rhodium to maintain a luxurious shine. White gold wedding bands generally are rhodium plated to provide that nice white shine. Rhodium plating eventually wears off rings, requiring more plating every so often to maintain that silvery shine and luster. Secondly, palladium is less costly than platinum, and a little more expensive than gold. So, you end up with a men’s palladium wedding bands with a platinum appearance, but not the associated price tag.

Palladium is rarer than gold. It is less expensive because of simple market economics. Few couples know about this metal and therefore, there is less demand for this metal, so the price is low. For example, 20 years ago, no one bought mens palladium wedding band. Gold was all the rage at the time, so platinum was a very affordable metal used in jewelry. Then the producers of platinum started creating consumer demand for platinum, which has paid off today because platinum is more expensive than gold. People who bought their platinum wedding rings 20 years ago got it for less than the price of 14k gold rings. This is impossible today because of the demand for platinum. Well, palladium now is like platinum 20 years ago. It has not caught on yet, so the price remains low. This is an excellent opportunity for young couples today to buy their wedding rings on a budget. In the years to come this opportunity may not exist anymore as more and more couples learn about the beauty and affordability of palladium wedding bands.

Proof of palladium’s acceptance by the market and its growing popularity can be measured by the number of jewelry makers that are producing their styles in palladium, which were traditionally reserved for platinum and white gold. The nation’s finest bridal jewelry makers (Frederick Goldman, Benchmark Rings and Novell Design Studio) all produce a palladium wedding ring line. In fact, the designer with the largest selection of wedding ring styles, Novell Design Studio, can make all their styles in all metals including Palladium. If you are shopping on-line, Larson Jewelers is an authorized dealer of Novell’s products which you can buy all their palladium rings styles from. To see Novell’s styles, simply go to visit Novell Design Studio’s website. Larson Jewelers does not display all of Novell’s styles on their site because they have hundreds of styles to choose from, but you can simply ask them for a quote by giving them Novell’s style number.

Palladium is not only rarer than gold, but it is a harder metal than both white gold or platinum, making for a good long term investment. Palladium weighs about the same as white gold when made into a setting, but is up to 40% lighter than platinum, which can be a consideration if you are looking at a band with a good amount of metal in it. Unlike white gold, or silver, palladium wedding rings will not tarnish, scratch easily, or lose their shine.

This is why palladium looks and acts just like platinum. In fact, palladium is just as rare as platinum because palladium is only found where there are platinum deposits. This means palladium is actually more rare than gold. There are only a few mines in the world produce palladium. The only difference is palladium is about half the weight of platinum. This means that if you have two identical rings, one made of platinum and one made of palladium, the palladium ring is half the weight. The reason palladium costs less is because there has not been as high a demand for it as there is for platinum. This will change in the future as more and more consumers become aware of palladium as a lower cost alternative to platinum.

14k white gold rings are made of only 55% gold and 18k white gold rings are made of 75% gold. Palladium Wedding Bands are made of 95% pure palladium. The consumer gets more value by purchasing palladium rings because their price is the same as 14k white gold, but the purity level is much higher at 95%. Palladium is stronger and more scratch resistant than white gold. There is no difference in the coloring of the scratches as there is no plating to be rubbed off creating a difference in color.