How to Identify Quality in Platinum Rings

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You are looking for the highest quality platinum engagement ring possible for your lovely lady with very fine tastes. As a busy executive, your time, along with your knowledge of platinum and diamonds, is limited. How do you make this very personal investment purchase a high-quality, high-value decision that will elate your special woman for decades to come?

Steps

1. Look for quality in the workmanship. The workmanship of platinum casting, milgraining, engraving, filigree, pavé or other fine details can vary dramatically.
   
   • Work only with a master platinumsmith who is an expert in the metal and the craftsmanship. Some jewelry manufacturers and online mass producers choose to imitate hand engraving or filigree by embedding a design into the ring’s casting. This prefabricated engraving will eventually wear off and the filigree will look chunky and lack finesse.
     
   • For the best quality, look for deep and intricate hand engraving and filigree that is from hand-drawn wires and sculpted then soldered into a piece. Pavé in platinum requires very specific expertise.
     
   • Proper setting ensures that the focus is on the sparkle of the diamonds, not the platinum prongs holding in the stones. This goes for the prongs holding the center stone is place. Do not choose a ring with overly elevated or thick prongs, which lack any elegance and just look plain clunky.
     
2. Understand what quality means in the platinum alloy. Just like gold, platinum is alloyed with other metal(s) for use in jewelry. PT 950, or 95 percent platinum is the new high-quality standard.
   
   • Nevertheless, the five percent left does matter. To save on costs, many jewelry designers and mass producers mix their platinum with lower-strength and inferior materials, which yield platinum that becomes dull over time and is less durable because of an increased risk of porosity. Porosity or pitting – literally holes within the platinum in a ring - leads to cracked shanks or bent prongs and dramatically decreases both the value and endurance of the piece. A proprietary mix with the highest quality alloy is the best choice.
     
3. Go beyond the Four C's and a certificate when choosing a diamond. Cut, Color, Clarity and Carat Weight are just the basics in evaluating and pricing diamonds. While a certificate from the GIA (Gemological Institute of America) on an ideal-cut diamond lends some peace of mind, many diamonds with the same evaluation of the 4 C's can vary substantially in their beauty and light reflection.
   
   • Gemologists rate the diamonds based on standard criteria, but this can be subjective and two gemologists can disagree over what a certificate reads.
     
   • You can ensure that you are getting the best quality diamond by actually looking at a variety of diamonds yourself.
     
   • Ideally, your platinumsmith is also a diamond expert that can help to educate your naked eye (or with a loop) to evaluate the polish, symmetry, cut grades and light performance of each stone.
     
   • Quite often it is obvious what diamond is the brightest and most beautiful when they are compared to others. This means that if you are purchasing a diamond of any significance (one carat or more), you should resist buying online because you can't see the quality of the diamond - or the platinum craftsmanship. Also, be sure that any other diamonds used to accent your center stone are of equal quality - Russian-cut diamonds are the highest quality choice for smaller stones typically used in eternity bands and pave work.
     

Tips

• Learn more about platinum and diamonds at trusted sites such as this one www.platinumrings.com.
  
• Don't focus on the size of the diamond, but make sure that it is at least H in color and contains no flaws visible to the naked eye.
  
• Ask for Canadian non-conflict diamonds if this is important to you or your fiance.
  

Warnings

• Don't let a jeweler talk you into white gold or palladium, which are of lower quality than platinum
  
• Beware of unscrupulous or just plain greedy diamond dealers or supposed wholesalers, often found in jewelry marts or centers offering deals that seem too good to be true - and are!
  
• Stay out of mall stores that offer only cookie-cutter, mass-produced designs of lower quality.
  
• Beware of the little blue box type of retailers, which usually offer fairly good quality, but not value
  

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