How to tell platinum from white gold: hallmarks, wear and weight
The short answer
Platinum is stamped 950 or PT950, weighs roughly 60% more than 14K white gold, and develops a satiny patina without changing colour. White gold is stamped 750 (18K) or 585 (14K), is plated in rhodium, and wears to a warm yellowish tint on high-contact edges. Platinum melts for less than gold today, but retails higher.
The hallmark stamp settles it first: 950 vs 750 and 585
The quickest distinction sits inside the band or on the clasp tongue. Platinum is almost universally alloyed at 95 per cent purity, stamped 950, PT950, PLAT, or accompanied by an orb mark in the United Kingdom. Lighter platinum alloys exist (850 and 900), but 950 is the international fine jewellery standard.
White gold is gold alloyed with nickel, palladium or silver, and its stamps are gold stamps: 750 (18 carat), 585 (14 carat), or 375 (9 carat). Gold is never legally stamped 950. If you see 750, 18K, 585 or 14K, the metal is white gold, however silvery its mirror finish appears. Our guide to reading gold hallmarks breaks down every fineness number in detail.
Weight in the palm: platinum is 60 per cent denser
Pick up two identical rings, one in platinum and one in 14-carat white gold, and the difference is immediate. Platinum has a specific gravity of roughly 21.45 grams per cubic centimetre. By comparison, 18-carat white gold sits around 15.8, and 14-carat white gold sits around 14.7.
In the hand, a platinum piece feels surprisingly heavy for its size. That physical heft is one of the most reliable tactile clues: an experienced jeweller holding an unmarked heavy band will suspect platinum before applying any acid or tester.
Wear and colour: yellowing vs patina
Pure gold is yellow. To make white gold, yellow gold is alloyed with white metals, leaving a faintly warm greyish-yellow tone. To give it a bright chrome-white shine, manufacturers electroplate it with a microscopic layer of rhodium, a precious metal in the platinum group.
Over two or three years of daily wear, rhodium plating wears away at high-friction points: the base of the shank, the prongs, and the edges rubbing against an adjacent ring. A warm yellowish tone begins to emerge. Platinum, by contrast, is naturally white throughout its entire cross-section. It is never plated, and forty years of wear will never reveal a yellow underlayer.
Scratches: displaced metal vs lost metal
All precious metals scratch, but they scratch differently.
- White gold loses metal. When gold is scratched against a hard surface, tiny microscopic flakes of metal are sheared off and lost forever. Over decades of wear, gold bands thin and prongs wear down.
- Platinum displaces metal. Platinum is ductile and malleable. When scratched, the metal merely shifts to the side in microscopic ridges, creating a soft, satiny, diffuse sheen known as patina. No metal is lost, and a jeweller can burnish it back to a polish with minimal loss of mass.
Melt value vs retail cost: the price paradox
Historically, platinum traded at double the price of gold per ounce, establishing an aura of ultimate luxury. In the modern market, that relationship has flipped: the spot price of pure gold is substantially higher than platinum.
This creates a valuation paradox:
- Melt scrap value: Because gold spot prices are currently much higher than platinum, a white gold ring often has a higher scrap melt value than an equivalent platinum ring of the same size.
- Retail replacement value: Platinum jewellery remains more expensive to buy new in retail shops. It requires higher melting temperatures (1,768°C vs 1,064°C), specialised diamond-tipped tooling, and greater bench craftsman skill to cast and set.
More on how these markets operate is detailed in what your jewellery is worth.
What a jeweller uses to settle doubt
When marks are rubbed smooth or absent, three bench tests settle the question conclusively:
- Specific gravity testing: Measuring the piece dry and submerged in water calculates density without marking the article.
- X-ray fluorescence (XRF): A tabletop spectrometer shoots X-rays at the metal surface and displays exact percentages of platinum, ruthenium, gold, and nickel within sixty seconds.
- Acid testing: Platinum resists pure nitric acid completely; standard gold acid solutions react immediately to white gold base alloys.
Carat analyses macro photographs of the shank, setting, color temperature, and wear patterns to distinguish platinum from white gold, explaining its reasoning at every step. How it works explains the analysis pipeline.
Common questions
Can white gold turn yellow over time?
Yes. Natural white gold has a subtle warm yellowish tint beneath a bright rhodium electroplate finish. As daily contact rubs the rhodium away, the warmer natural gold alloy shows through, especially on the underside of the band. A jeweller can easily clean and re-rhodium dip the piece.
Is platinum worth more than white gold?
At retail, platinum costs more due to craftsmanship and metal density. However, on the scrap melt market, gold currently commands a higher spot price per ounce than platinum, meaning an 18K white gold ring can sometimes yield a higher melt payout than a platinum equivalent.
Does platinum scratch more easily than white gold?
Platinum is softer on the surface than 14K white gold, meaning it shows fine surface hairlines sooner. However, scratches in platinum simply displace metal into a satiny patina, whereas scratches in gold scrape metal away.
Can Carat tell platinum from white gold from a photo?
Carat identifies hallmark punches (950 vs 750), reads subtle yellowing on contact points indicative of worn rhodium plating, and evaluates setting thickness. It labels visual results as estimates and specifies when an XRF test is recommended.