Today, we are going to introduce the difference between 18K gold and platinum from three aspects: material composition, price and inlay material.
Material composition difference
18K gold in the market refers to the alloy of gold with 75% content and other 25% precious metal elements.
18K gold comes in a wide variety of colors, including white, rose, yellow, purple, blue and other colors.
These different colors of 18K gold are synthesized from different precious metals according to different ratios.
The ratios are as follows
- 18K Gold Blue: 75% + iron (as appropriate)
- 18K Gold Blue: 75% + concentrated iron
- 18K Gold Purple: 75% + lead
- 18K Gold Yellow: 75% + nickel + silver + zinc
- 18K Gold Rose: 75%+copper+silver+zinc
- 18K Gold White: 75% + silver + nickel + platinum + zinc or 75% + palladium, a slightly greenish-yellow white
Usually white and rose gold are the more common style colors, blue, purple and other colors are usually creative styles designed by designers in independent studios.
Platinum is a naturally occurring white precious metal.
The color of platinum is very similar to that of 18K white gold, both being white, but platinum and white gold are two different materials and differ greatly in price.
It doesn't matter that platinum and 18K white gold cannot be identified with the naked eye, they can be distinguished by their hallmarks.
Platinum is indicated by Pt, for example Pt950, where 950 indicates that the content of platinum in the jewelry is 95%.
For 18K gold, the hallmark is 18K, AU750 or G750. usually the material mark for rings is on the inside of the ring, and for necklaces the mark is on the clasp.
The difference in price
In the counters we often see the same style of jewelry made of platinum at a higher price than 18k gold.
This is because 18k gold is an alloy, so it is much cheaper than platinum.
Platinum is very rare, with a concentration of only 0.005 parts per million in the earth's crust.
Only a few areas in the world can be mined, and mining is extremely difficult, refining platinum is also more difficult than gold, refining 1 ounce of platinum requires about 10 tons of platinum ore and 8 weeks of time, while refining 1 ounce of gold requires about 5 tons of gold ore 5 days.
In the recycling value of 18K gold and platinum comparison, 18K gold is more popular, because platinum is not hard currency and recycling loss is larger and 18K gold has the value of gold, recycling channels, general ordinary gold stores can be recycled.
The difference in the choice of inlay material
First, 18 karat gold material metal from the material its hardness and ductility than platinum to high, can fully meet the needs of inlay, in the design of jewelry have more creative performance, platinum and vice versa.
Second, 18K gold is richer in color, the choice of space is also relatively large, different colors of K gold can choose different stones, such as white K gold is more suitable for cool-toned stones, yellow K gold is suitable for warm-toned stones, such as red diamonds. Rose gold K gold is suitable for inlaid gemstone color is even more, is now the popular color on the market.
Thirdly, although the purity of platinum is high, 18K gold is more solid than platinum because of its high hardness and not easy to deform, so it is not easy to loosen when setting stones.
