Platinum, white gold, yellow gold.

Naturally white, dense, and the most durable choice. Platinum is ninety percent pure in jewelry, versus seventy-five percent for 18 karat gold, which makes it heavier on the finger and slightly more expensive per gram.

Over time, platinum develops a soft patina. Some prefer this look, which reads quietly broken-in. Some prefer to keep it polished.

Platinum is the safest choice for sensitive skin. It is also the metal we recommend for prong settings on larger stones: it bends less than gold and grips the stone more securely over time.

Yellow gold alloyed with palladium or silver, finished with a thin rhodium plating that gives it a brilliant white surface. The plating gradually wears through after eighteen to twenty-four months of daily wear, and the warmer gold underneath begins to show.

Re-plating is quick and inexpensive, and we can take care of it whenever you visit for a service. If you would rather not return to us periodically, platinum is the better choice.

Classic, warming, and the metal most people picture when they think of fine jewelry. 18 karat is seventy-five percent pure gold, which gives it a deeper saturation than 14 karat. 14 is harder and more affordable. 18 holds colour better and feels more like fine jewelry.

Yellow gold never needs plating. It looks like gold all the way through.

The most common metal allergy is to nickel, sometimes used in white gold alloys. We use palladium-based white gold, which is nickel-free. Platinum and high-karat yellow gold are essentially never problematic.

A pragmatic shortcut. For a ring you will not want to maintain, platinum or yellow gold are the lowest-fuss options. For a brilliant white look with periodic re-plating, white gold. For warmth, yellow gold.