Platinum and gold are most popular precious metals and are most often used in fine diamond jewelry, these metals are found in very few places around the world.

It’s the cool white look that makes platinum the most sought after metal of choice for engagement ring settings, as it helps add to the sparkle and shine of the diamond set.

In order to manufacture a lone ounce of refined platinum, 10 tons of ore have to be mined, for gold though "only" three tons of ore have to be mined to manufacture one ounce of gold. The rarity of platinum opposed to gold is what gives it its distinction and also is what causes its price to be substantially more expensive.

 Platinum is a very strong metal if a scratch is done on platinum it can leave a mark on the metal, but the metal is so strong that it will not voluntarily chip or splinter. It is for that reason that most engagement rings sold today are set in safer and more secure platinum prong settings. Platinum is known to be of the strongest and as an outcome also longest lasting of all metals; it is also known to be of the heaviest metals. A diamond piece of jewelry that contains for example ninety percent of pure platinum will weigh sixty percent more than the comparable piece in gold.

When one wants to have a platinum piece of jewelry qualified to be marked "Platinum," it must include a minimum of 95 percent platinum. Jewelry that contains only 85 to 95 percent pure platinum is qualified to be marked "850 PLAT" or "950 PLAT" or "950 Pt." etc but cannot be marked Platinum.

Diamond jewelry that contains not less than 50 percent of pure platinum and a minimum of 95 percent of platinum type metals such as palladium, iridium, osmium, rhodium or ruthenium can be marked with its platinum content and then followed by the other metals weight. For example:"500 Platinum 450 iridium.

Diamond jewelry that does not contain even 50 percent pure platinum is not qualified and cannot be marked with the term "platinum" or any abbreviation of it.

White gold is a totally different metal, it is not platinum, 18k white gold contain 75% of gold, however 14k white gold contains only 58.3% gold, Navex jewelers sell jewelry only made of 18k white gold and platinum. The way to process white gold is to alloy yellow gold with other more whitish colored metals. Jewelry that is prepared from these metals would have a slight yellowish accent color. So the way to improve the whiteness is to have the piece of jewelry dipped, most white gold is dipped in rhodium, a glistening white metal which is particularly hard. Over time however the rhodium plating can tend wear off, which can reveal the original yellowish color. Re-dipping is a simple process that can easily be done and will restore the whiteness to your jewelry.