I began to research my local jewellery stores. I would have liked to see the retail price of marriage bands and mostly the manufacturer price of platinum wedding bands. What I found was a shock. I went to generally larger state name stores. All of them had atiny collection of super light weight bands. Most didnot have more than one platinum band in stock but were using fake plated samples.

• Penny Weight-DWT
• 950 Platinum
• Gram Weight
• 900 Platinum
• Karat Platinum

I started with the so called wholesale to the public stores. A couple of them had whats called K platinum. This is platinum mingled with amalgamate to cut back the price and value. The price listed wasnot cheap but the value is missing. Avoid this low quality platinum. When I asked for 950 platinum they often had only terribly light weight bands. Most were what I might call extra light. I would not buy bands that shallow because the lack of thickness makes the edge rather too thin to be smooth.

Idid see lots of palladium marriage bands that many were trying to sell as platinum. The sales person did not say they were platinum but they said it was nearly a similar thing and was part of the platinum family. Of course they forget to mention that platinum is virtually double the weight and the spot cost of the metal is 3 times as much. The price being charged was a little under the platinum price . It seems like palladium is being used as a heavy profit platinum look a like.

The final analysis is you need to grasp what you are purchasing. My online platinum marriage band store is less than half what the local retail outlets are priced at and gives all of the details. I mostly list the weight and thickness. If youare trying to comparison shop be sure to ask for the gram weight and thickness of any marriage band you are interested in. Purchasing rings can be done safely online and you can compare real values if you area careful buyer.

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Womens World