Sterling Silver vs White Gold, Yellow Gold and Platinum: Costs, Weights and Upkeep

By Dmitry Strugovshchikov, founder of STRUGA

White gold is not white. It is yellow gold under about a micron of rhodium, and when that rhodium wears off the working surfaces, the warm cream alloy underneath comes through. Sterling silver is built more honestly: 92.5% silver and 7.5% copper, with no plating at all — so there is nothing to wear off. A polished sterling band and a rhodium-plated 18k band look nearly identical when new; the difference is that the second one goes back to a jeweller every one to three years and the first one does not.

• Sterling silver (925) is 92.5% silver and 7.5% copper: the most affordable precious metal and the only one of the four that develops a true patina.
• White gold is yellow gold under rhodium. The standard 0.75–1.0 micron layer wears off high-contact surfaces in 1–3 years, and re-plating costs $50–150 every time, for the life of the piece.
• On 28 August 2026, a gram of alloy costs $2.10 in 925 sterling, $57.6 in platinum 950 and $110.9 in 18k gold. Gold now runs 2.4× the price of platinum.
• The same 6 mm flat band weighs 7.0 g in sterling, 10.5 g in 18k gold and 14.4 g in platinum 950: platinum is exactly twice the weight of silver.
• Metal in that band: $15 in sterling, $1,160 in 18k gold, $830 in platinum. The gold band is lighter than the platinum one and still carries more money.
• Nickel in white gold is the most common cause of jewellery dermatitis; the 925 alloy contains no nickel at all.

Updated 28 August 2026

How is sterling silver different from white gold?

By composition and by whether there is a coating — everything else follows from that. Sterling silver is its own colour: 92.5% silver and 7.5% copper make a cool bright metal with nothing on top. White gold is yellow by nature, and it is electroplated rhodium that makes it white — a layer that is a consumable.

Two ownership scenarios grow out of that. A silver piece is worn and occasionally polished; the surface darkens and brightens, but it stays the same metal. A white gold piece is worn until the rhodium thins on the inside of the shank and the underside of a clasp, and then it goes back to be re-plated. Neither is the worse choice — they simply cost different amounts of money and attention.

Metal	Composition	Metal per gram	Maintenance
Sterling 925	92.5% silver, 7.5% copper	$2.10	no plating, polish when you like
White gold 18k	75% gold with palladium or nickel, rhodium on top	$110.90	re-plating every 1–3 years
Yellow gold 18k	75% gold, copper and silver	$110.90	no plating
Platinum 950	95% platinum, 5% iridium, ruthenium or cobalt	$57.60	no plating, polish every few years

Metal cost is calculated from spot prices on 28 August 2026, adjusted for the precious-metal content of each alloy.

Which is more expensive — gold, platinum or silver?

On 28 August 2026 the order was: gold at $4,598 per troy ounce, platinum at $1,886, silver at $70.55 (Kitco quotes). Per gram that is $147.8, $60.6 and $2.27.

Two conclusions follow, and both cut against habit. First: gold now costs 2.4× more than platinum — the idea of platinum as the most expensive jewellery metal is left over from the market of the 2000s. Second: the gold-to-silver ratio is not a constant. Today it stands at 65; over the past forty years the corridor has run roughly from 15 to 125, so any multiplier printed in an article about metals lives exactly until the market moves again.

In a finished piece the gaps compress. The metal in a silver ring costs a few dollars while the ring costs a few hundred, because what is paid for is hours at the bench. STRUGA rings run $96–235; in that band the price is almost entirely work, not material.

How do you tell platinum from silver?

Weight and hallmark are the reliable tests; everything else is supporting evidence. A platinum ring and a silver ring of the same size differ by a factor of two — alloy densities of 21.40 against 10.40 g/cm³ — and the hand registers that immediately.

Sign	Platinum 950	Sterling 925
Hallmark	950, PLAT, Pt950	925, Sterling, Ag925
Weight at equal size	twice as heavy	half the weight
Tarnish	does not tarnish	tarnishes slowly, polishes off
Colour	slightly greyer, colder	slightly warmer, brighter polished
Scratch	metal displaces into a ridge, volume stays	metal is carried away, a groove stays

A magnet helps very little here: both metals are non-magnetic, but the jewellery alloy of platinum with cobalt is noticeably attracted to one. A magnet answers what a piece is not, and almost never what it is.

What does rhodium plating cost, and how often is it redone?

A standard rhodium layer is 0.75–1.0 micron; the thin flash plating used on costume jewellery is under 0.175 micron. Under daily wear the layer leaves high-contact surfaces within 1–3 years: the inside of a shank, the underside of a clasp, the edges of a setting.

Re-plating in 2026 costs $50–150 per ring — nearer the bottom at an independent bench, nearer the top at a retail counter or when stones have to be unset first. Over twenty-five years of ownership a ring goes through this five to seven times. How long a layer lasts depends on what is being worn:

• A ring worn daily — rhodium goes in 1–3 years: the shank rubs constantly against neighbouring fingers and everything the hand picks up.
• An occasional ring — 4–6 years, because there is almost no friction and the layer thins slowly.
• Pendants and earrings — 5–10 years: they hang rather than rub, and touch skin only at an edge.
• A bracelet clasp — faster than a ring on its underside, where metal rests on the wrist.

Sterling gets rhodium-plated too, for the same reason and with the same outcome. After a couple of years the coating goes patchy, and a two-tone surface is harder to put right than the even patina of unplated metal: it has to be either re-plated or stripped entirely.

How much does the same ring weigh in each metal?

Take a standard 6 mm flat band, comfort-fit, US size 9 — roughly 0.67 cm³ of metal. Weights and metal costs are calculated from alloy densities rather than pure-metal densities: those are different numbers, and substituting one for the other throws the result out by a tenth.

Metal	Alloy density	Band weight	Metal in the band
Sterling 925	10.40 g/cm³	7.0 g	$15
Gold 14k	13.07 g/cm³	8.8 g	$760
Gold 18k	15.58 g/cm³	10.5 g	$1,160
Platinum 950	21.40 g/cm³	14.4 g	$830

The least obvious thing sits in the last column: the 18k band is almost 1.4× lighter than the platinum one and still carries a third more money in metal. In 2026, heft in the hand and cost on the receipt point in opposite directions.

Which metal is safer for sensitive skin?

By reaction risk the four line up like this, lowest to highest:

• Platinum 950 — risk close to zero; the same metal goes into surgical implants.
• Sterling 925 — low: a true silver allergy is extremely rare.
• Yellow gold 18k — low: the higher the karat, the less of the alloy anyone reacts to.
• White gold — medium to high, for one reason: nickel, still used to whiten part of the alloys on the market.

European law limits it directly: an article in prolonged contact with skin may not release more than 0.5 micrograms of nickel per square centimetre per week, and for piercings the limit is stricter at 0.2 (REACH, Annex XVII, entry 27; test method EN 1811). The limit exists precisely because nickel dermatitis is the most common contact allergy to jewellery.

The 925 alloy contains no nickel: silver and copper only. On very acidic skin the copper can leave a temporary green mark — a reaction on the skin rather than an allergy, and it washes off. Anyone who specifically wants white gold should ask for a palladium alloy and get the composition confirmed by the seller.

Which metal tarnishes, and what do you do about it?

Only silver tarnishes, and what tarnishes is not the silver but the copper in the alloy: it reacts with sulphur compounds in air, water and cosmetics. Gold from 14k upwards and platinum do not oxidise at all in ordinary conditions.

The practical difference is smaller than it sounds. Dark film on silver comes off with a cloth in half a minute and takes months to return. Rhodium on white gold does not darken, but it abrades — and that is irreversible without re-plating. Silver's surface is maintained by its owner; white gold's, by a workshop.

Patina is a third state, often confused with tarnish. It is the stable dark drawing that unplated metal accumulates over years in the recesses of a form and never on the high points. Where a design calls for it, the surface is darkened deliberately — controlled potassium-sulphide patination, as in the oxidised collection.

What can each metal actually be shaped into?

Silver gives the widest range of finish — one casting yields four different objects:

• Mirror polish — a cool bright metal, the closest thing to the look of white gold.
• Sandblasting — an even matte grey that hides small scratches.
• Oxidising — a near-black surface; neither gold nor platinum darkens like that.
• Darkening with the high points brought back — relief that reads across a room, and that is unreachable in gold.

Gold offers no such range: gold is always gold, and it cannot be darkened. A large form in gold runs into the weight of the metal — a five-gram 18k ring carries $550 of alloy alone, a ten-gram one twice that.

Platinum behaves differently at the bench: it is gummy, melts near 1,770 °C, and needs its own tools and a jeweller who works with it regularly. Hence its territory — a simple durable form meant for decades, rather than sculpture.

Which metal should you choose for your case?

If the budget is under $250

Sterling 925 is the only precious metal in which that money buys a large designed form rather than a thin stamped one. In gold, the same sum is consumed by the metal before the work even begins.

If you want one piece to outlive you

Platinum 950. It does not oxidise, a scratch displaces metal instead of removing it, and it survives several owners without a jeweller's intervention. The entry price is the highest of the four; the cost of ownership is the lowest.

If your skin reacts to jewellery

Platinum or sterling 925. White gold is worth buying only as a palladium alloy and only with the composition confirmed; nickel-whitened alloys are best left alone.

If you want a white metal rather than a gold colour

This is where the market's main trap sits. Rhodium-plated white gold and polished sterling look the same in a display case and cost and behave very differently afterwards. If it is the look you are after, silver delivers it without the re-plating bill.

Why does STRUGA work in 925 sterling silver?

The whole catalogue is cast in 925, and the reason is design rather than budget. Silver makes it possible to build large sculptural forms — asymmetric, darkened, openly textured — at a price where a piece is bought to be worn daily rather than kept in a safe. The same form in platinum would become a display object rather than a wearable one.

STRUGA deliberately does not use rhodium. Unplated 925 develops a patina over years of contact with skin, and in the dark series that patina is not a side effect but the finish itself, as in the oxidised rings. No plating means no re-plating.

What silver makes possible is visible in the Big Thorn bracelet: a rigid frame cast in solid silver from a wax model, without rhodium, hand-fitted with fifteen carbon inserts. It is not assembled from links — its 45 grams read as a single object. For wider context see the 925 silver guide and the Atlas chapter on the metal.

Metal	What it is good at	What it costs the owner
Sterling 925	large forms and the full range of finishes at an accessible price	a polish every few months, scratches arrive sooner
White gold	the look of platinum at a lower entry price	re-plating every 1–3 years for life, plus nickel risk
Yellow gold	a colour that never changes and needs no upkeep	the metal price caps how large the form can be
Platinum 950	a piece for generations with no jeweller in between	the highest entry price and twice the weight on the finger

Related reading: Sterling Silver vs Stainless Steel Bracelet: Which Lasts.

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