platinum engagement rings : I'm about to purchase an engagement ring for my girlfriend and I was wondering if it is unheard of to have the ring made of 24K gold. I've only just begun shopping, and not very seriously yet, but so far all the rings that I've seen have been either 10, 14 or 18K. Of course, I know that pure gold rings must be available, but has anyone considered just how pure the gold should be?I've heard that gold-alloys are used instead of pure gold because of the soft nature of the metal, but how much of a problem is this really? Would a 24K gold ring wear out much faster than an alloy? Is it likely to break? What if I just got a thicker 24K ring and, to compensate, bought a cheaper stone? Any suggestions?My girlfriend happens to be East Indian, and she tells me that in India rings and other jewelry are made of pure gold. This apparently comes from the idea that gold is precious and should not be polluted with other metals. However, I've heard from other sources that the gold most popular in India is actually 22K. Does anyone know for sure?
platinum engagement rings : I plan to include her in the final purchase decision, but hopefully I can be as knowledgeable as possible when the time comes.I'm no expert, but my engagement ring is 18 k. I think that the reasoning is that 24 k would be much too soft for a ring. If she plans to do things with her hands, like wash dishes, drive a car, simple everyday things, then you should probably get only 18 k (here the gem is more important than the band usually). I think that a very thick band would still be too soft. Do you know any other East Indian people? If you wish to respect the customs of her culture, ask someone from there who knows. If you're comfortable with it, ask one of her brothers, sisters, or some other relative for advice in this area. It would be a good way to help you get closer to her by making friends with her family and letting them know that you respect their culture.The gold in India would have to be 22K. 24K is too soft, that's why they add alloys. Why, BTW, would you want to buy an inferior stone when the stone, unless it's a rock from your driveway, is what makes the ring valuable? Have you asked any jewelers about this? My brothers are both jewelers and just by knowing them I know that the gold is much less valuable than you think it is. The stone is what's important, whatever type you choose.
platinum engagement rings : Just to lend you more opinions, first, I've had three 24K rings in my life. I agree that 24K is too soft for traditional diamond mountings, daily/rough usage such as yardwork, sports activity, hiking, etc. The first ring I actually lost because my finger size became smaller, the ring eventually bent into a non-circular shape, and fell off somewhere in the girl's locker room in high school. Sigh. I've been much more careful with my second ring, which DOES successfully hold a beautiful opal stone. However, opal is too delicate a stone for daily wearing, in my opinion--I've had this ring for about 15 years and it is in nearly perfect shape, but ONLY because I wear for short periods, in fact, hours at a time, and keep it correctly sized. (Your finger keeps the ring from bending out of shape.) My third ring I wore daily for three years, but now I'm not wearing it because it clashes with my engagement ring. Otherwise, it was fairly thick, durable, but again, it is not indestructable, shows minor nicks and will age over time.
platinum engagement rings : Hope this anecdotal advice helps. For a western engagement ring, 24K will not endure very prettily.If I were you I'd ask your fiance how important it is to her. 24k gold is a *lot* more expensive than 14k or even 18k gold, and is also much softer. My sister's wedding ring is 24k and it's all but destroyed 7 years later. She is not particularly hard on her rings. Most people will tell you that you shouldn't wear 24k gold everyday if you want it to last, it just won't. It is true that 24k is a little richer in color, but it's not after you wear it for a while and it gets scratched, dented and misshapen. A wider band will help, but it will also add to the expense. At the very least you should make sure the prongs holding the stone are a harder alloy, or platinum. I'm not even sure they _make_ 24k prongs. It wouldn't be a good idea. If it's really important to her then do it, but realize that you're spending a lot more money for something that's a lot more fragile, and probably no one would be able to tell the difference unless they looked at the stamp inside anyway. 10k and 24 k look different, but even then the difference is slight. 18k and 24k are almost identical to look at.
platinum engagement rings : Thank you all for your replies. This post seems to sum up the general feeling about 24K gold engagement/wedding rings and as a result of your comments, I'm now leaning toward a smooth wide 18K ring with platinum prongs. Does the addition of platinum prongs make the ring much more expensive? From what I remember the bulk price for platinum is not that much higher than the bulk price for gold, although I imagine I'm mainly paying for workmanship anyway. By the way I have seen an Indian diamond ring where the diamond is held atop a cylindrical support which supports the stone around the entire girdle. The prongs were very small and just served to hold the diamond down. This would seem to be a solution for mounting the stone, but frankly the ring was not very pretty.Also, is it true that 24K gold rings are disproportionally more expensive than 18K, or that 18K is disproportionally more expensive than 14K? By this I mean, of course, more expensive than the materials cost for the additional gold. This would seem to be a bit of a rip-off if the workmanship was the same and the only thing changing was the % gold.
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