by: Brock Hammill
When it comes to placing your new diamond in a setting there are a couple of things to take into consideration.
Number of Prongs – How many prongs you get is up to you. The more prongs, the more secure the diamond will be. At the same time I don’t feel that having only four prongs makes your diamond more likely to fall out. It is a matter of taste.
Material of Prongs – What the prongs are made of does make a big difference. Your choices are usually gold or platinum. Platinum is much stronger and heavier than gold. Gold prongs can get bent and over time wear down. Platinum prongs will stay as new as the day you bought it and are less likely to bend.
Ring material – This is a matter of taste and budget. Where most people are concerned is white gold verses platinum. Let’s take a look at both:
White gold –
White gold is made by mixing gold and other white metals such as silver, nickel, palladium and platinum. This mixing causes the gold to change colors into a white or silver look. The color is not exactly as white as jewelers and customers would like it so they electroplate the white gold with rhodium making it look much whiter. The only problem with this method is that the electroplating only attaches a thin layer of rhodium that wears off in about a year and needs to be redone in order to get the original shine back. This will cost about $35 dollars if it is an all white gold item that can be plated all at once.
Since white gold is not an element but an alloy of a number of different metals the mixture can be change to suit the application. If a hard metal is needed it can be mixed with nickel or if a softer metal is needed for setting stones it can be mixed with palladium. So remember not all white gold is the same.
Interesting note: Since gold is a yellow color the more gold in white gold the more yellow it will look. A 14k white gold ring will look more yellow than a 10k white gold ring.
Platinum –
Well the first thing that you will notice about platinum is that it is way more expensive than white gold. There are a couple of reasons for this. White gold as we mentioned is not all gold so you are not paying for solid gold and platinum is just a more expensive metal. Platinum has many advantages over white gold. First, it is more scratch resistant and will not wear down over time. Second it is much heavier than white gold so when you put it on you feel like you are putting on a major piece of jewelry. Third as it gets older it will hold its color and shape much better than gold. Since platinum is naturally a nice white color if it gets a scratch or dinged it will still look white.
Both materials will need to be cleaned and polished to keep them looking good as new.
If you plan on getting a ring made of either material it is a good idea to get a higher color grade diamond with these materials. Since they are so white they will make a slightly yellow diamond look even more yellow. If the diamond you are getting has a low color grade you might want to go for yellow gold which tends to hide a yellow diamond better since the metal is yellow.
Yellow Gold -
Yellow gold is the standard ring but seems to be quickly losing ground.