A Note For Jewelry Professionals And Consumers
What do we like best about real gemstones like diamond, sapphire and ruby? They each present a beautiful natural color. Why do we like gold? For its color, luster and malleability by jewelers and goldsmiths around the world. Okay so where can we mine white gold? Nowhere of course pure gold is always that gorgeous gold/yellow color. High karat gold Never tarnishes never fades. There is no white gold mine.
So why do we adulterate the only naturally yellow element to make a white metal? After all should we not be selling a naturally white precious metal? Platinum is said by some to be too expensive. Perhaps… if one overspends on the diamond, or has a truly tight budget. So white gold comes up next. But today that may be a foolish choice. Today we can offer palladium. For those who don’t know and have not heard palladium (Pd) is a platinum family metal. Think of it as the nice sister in the family. Palladium is usually sold at a very high purity, 95% in fact. Did you know that is higher purity than a lot of platinum and almost all gold jewelry? Ever heard how some are allergic to the nickel in white gold? Not ever a problem for palladium.
What about that cost factor? Right now as I type in May 2013, pure gold is about $1475, so 18k is about $1106 per ounce. 14k is about $859 per ounce. Jewelry palladium is just $665 per ounce and because it is less dense than the rest you get even more jewelry per per ounce. So Mr. Salesman at that nice jewelry store, tell me your best pitch for white gold? Mr. Buyer, why do you so strongly inventory a potential allergen that needs plating for great color over an unnatural creme white? Mr. Accountant, can you justify the costs of the above when you consider the allergen free and less expensive alternate?
So let us think about phasing out white gold until it’s truly the better choice again. If that ever happens. We will be doing the consumers and ourselves a favor.