Platinum, The New Gold

It would seem platinum is the new gold, as it were. Forming in the alluvial sands of rivers, platinum is known as one of the world’s rarest elements. A fact that might explain why its all over the place these days, from one’s rims, and grills, to even the most expensive cell phone that is comprised entirely of platinum. Aside from the lavish creations of the rare metal, platinum has taken an entirely new role in 21st century society and modern living. The wedding ring, a symbol one wears to let others know that they are and have been married, and that they are otherwise, “taken”, is now being created out of platinum.

As one would expect the prices get larger as the rings get larger and as they have more diamonds embedded into them. The most popular platinum wedding rings are actually engagement rings, which are .29 and .60 CTW. The CTW stands for the total carat weight that the ring has, and this refers to how many carats of a diamond the ring will hold. When referring to diamonds and their carats, the term is used to describe the specific amount of weight the diamond has. Which means, the larger the carat, the heavier and the larger the diamond. The prices of platinum are also known to go up based on the ring's purity. When the metal is used to create platinum wedding rings and wedding bands, the purity of the metal is never one hundred percent platinum. Platinum is commonly mixed with other metals to increase its strength, because a ring made entirely out of the metal would not be strong enough for daily wear.

A wedding band is similar to a wedding ring, but varies from the engagement ring in that it is typically worn after the wedding. There are even ring sets that one can purchase which include half of the ring being the anniversary ring and the other half, which is added later, as the wedding ring, together forming a type of double wedding band. The double wedding bands are rather popular, but are also rather expensive. It can certainly be agreed upon that the platinum rings can be accepted as a breath of fresh air from the traditional gold and silver rings, which seem to be just a little too old fashioned in comparison to the almost futuristic look of platinum; tomorrows metal for today.