Do sterling silver rings hold up better than Sterling dipped into platinum?
The only reasons that Sterling Silver rings are dipped in platinum (actually rhodium, a platinum family metal) are to resist tarnishing, and to protect against adverse reaction to the copper in Sterling Silver. Plating a ring adds nothing to the durability of a ring.
What is platinum plated sterling silver?
925 sterling silver is usually coated with platinum to make it look brighter and shiny. As we all know, pure silver will easily turn tarnished when it is exposed in the air. If silver is plated with platinum, it will not turn black and can be used for longer time.
In recent days, silver is also plated with rose gold, for different look and fashion.
How can I clean platinum plated jewelry?
Hello,
Platinum jewelry is cleaned the same as gold jewelry. At home, you can heat some water with dishwashing soap like Dawn, etc and use a soft bristle toothbrush to try to get into the nooks and crannies.
If your platinum pieces have diamonds, you can get the water nice and hot and it won’t harm anything as diamonds are the hardest substance known to man.
Back in the day, in my father’s store, our master jeweler would have a small pot with soap and water boiling and he’d finish working on a piece and casually pass by and drop the piece into a metal strainer like nothing and it always made me cringe as the water would be bubbling violently and I would think that this would hurt the pieces but it never did.
If you have colored stones then I suggest to warm up the water but not get it too hot.
The issue with platinum is the surface shows scratches easily and should be professionally polished where it will come back to life like new, so a visit to your local jeweler that has a master jeweler on the premises will do the trick.