Recognising and selling platinum and palladium
Platinum and palladium are almost always mistaken for white gold, and the other way round. The difference can be established with a set of scales and a loupe – and it shows in the price.
The hallmark is the first clue
Precious metal carries a fineness mark, and with platinum and palladium there is usually a letter mark beside it. That distinction exists for a reason: 950 on its own does not say which metal it is.
- PT950, PT900, PLAT, PT – platinum. 950 is by far the most common in jewellery.
- PD950, PD500, PALL – palladium. Also much used in white wedding bands.
- 585 or 750 without letters – white gold. That is yellow gold with a white alloying metal, finished with a thin layer of rhodium.
- 925 – silver, and therefore an entirely different order of magnitude.
The rhodium layer gives white gold away. It wears over the years, and then a yellowish glow comes through – especially on the inside of a ring. Platinum and palladium are white all the way through: they go dull but never yellow.
Weight says more than colour
Platinum is strikingly heavy. Pure platinum has a density of 21.4 grams per cubic centimetre, against roughly 15.6 for 18-carat white gold. Two rings of the same size and shape therefore differ by some thirty percent in weight, and you feel that in your hand.
Palladium goes the other way: at 12.0 grams per cubic centimetre it is a light metal, lighter than white gold. A palladium ring that feels remarkably light is therefore not a bad sign.
Anyone with two comparable pieces side by side gets a long way with kitchen scales. With a single loose piece weight says little – then it comes down to the hallmark, or a measurement.
Where it comes from
From private owners platinum mostly arrives as wedding and engagement rings and as settings for diamond: platinum holds a stone without the claws tiring, and that is exactly why jewellers use it.
Palladium sits in white wedding bands from the 2000s onwards, in dental alloys, and in small quantities in older electronics and laboratory glassware.
Both metals are quoted independently of gold. For a seller that matters more than it sounds: platinum and palladium have their own price cycles, and the ratio to gold has shifted considerably in recent years. What we pay today is shown on the page for each metal.
What we do with it
We settle on the fine metal, just as with gold: weight times fineness times the price of that moment, less the margin shown on the page.
A piece with stones in it is weighed without counting the stones. If it holds a diamond of any consequence, we value that separately – a half-carat stone can be worth more than the ring around it.
If you are unsure whether something is platinum or white gold, bring it in without doing anything to it yourself. Polishing, testing with acid or sanding off a layer costs value and delivers no certainty.
- Collector value or material value: when not to meltMost gold and silver is worth its material, but not all of it. Which signs mark a piece that rises above melt value – and what not to do when it does.Read on
- Selling dental gold: what it fetchesCrowns often hold 60 to 90 percent precious metal but carry no hallmark. What dental gold weighs, why colour tells you nothing, and why you can leave the porcelain on.Read on
- Why the buying price sits below the market priceThe market price applies to large lots of pure metal, not to your chain. What sits in between, why a bar comes closer than an old coin, and how to check the gap yourself.Read on
Questions about recognising and selling platinum and palladium
Is platinum worth more than gold?
Not automatically. Both are quoted separately, and the ratio shifts over the years. Check the page for the metal for today's price; what your piece fetches also depends on its fineness and weight.
How do I tell platinum from white gold?
Look at the hallmark first: PT or PLAT against 585 or 750. If you weigh two comparable pieces, platinum is about thirty percent heavier. And white gold takes on a yellow glow over the years where the rhodium has worn off.
Do you also buy palladium from dental work?
Yes. Dental alloys regularly contain palladium alongside gold, and the measurement reports every metal separately, so we pay for each against its own price. Our article on selling dental gold explains how that weighing and measuring is done.
My ring only carries 950. What is it then?
That can be platinum or palladium, and it can even be silver: the figure on its own says only how many parts per thousand are precious metal, not which one. A measurement settles it within a minute and costs nothing.
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Sources
Where you can verify what you have just read.
- LBMAThe London gold and silver price our daily rate is built on
- WaarborgHollandThe Dutch assay office that verifies fineness and strikes hallmarks
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