Silver is the New Platinum for Jewelry

Silver is the New Platinum for Jewelry

​By Robert Korczynski

All right. So now I'm going to teach you how to get free diamonds. I’ve spent three years tracking the lab-grown diamond market, even building my own diamond lab to test everything from moissanite and sapphire to cubic zirconia and diamonds: everything that was sent to me that was supposed to be a diamond. In that time, I’ve documented a collapse where prices for high-quality stones crashed from $800 to just $200 a carat in a matter of months. With the industry in such ruins that De Beers is officially for sale, this collapse has created an opportunity that I've never seen before. 

For the last year and a half, Luvansh has been the undisputed leader in selling lab-diamond jewelry online, and they have sold 1-carat total weight (1ctw) 14k white gold stud earrings for $349 pretty much continuously, usually using a 50% off sale, while every other competitor was charging $800 to $1,200 for the exact same specs. Nobody could touch them.

​However, this month, for the very first time I noticed competitors suddenly undercutting Luvansh. They were selling 1-carat studs for $249 to $299, and when I investigated, while a few were selling 14K gold settings with top quality diamonds like Stienhardt, most were using 925 Sterling Silver settings, then I found that Luvansh now offers silver as a new option for almost all of their jewelry. During their current 55% off April Fools' sale, Luvansh is selling those same 1-carat silver studs that competitors are pricing at $249 to $299 for just $202, and their 14k diamond studs are currently $337 with a price match guarantee. 

​Whether a buyer chooses 925 Silver, 10K White Gold, 14K White Gold, 18K White Gold or Platinum, the jeweler performs a final rhodium-plating dip after the diamonds are set. Because rhodium doesn't bond to the stones, the entire piece is submerged, and the result is that every one of these five metals comes out looking 100% identical. For stud earrings, this is particularly important because they face almost zero wear. This means that the rhodium plating is essentially permanent on stud earrings, meaning no one will ever see any of the extra money you spend for gold or platinum underneath the rhodium.

​The Metal Tax Breakdown

​To see how insane this is, look at the current price ladder for a 5-carat total weight (5ctw) tennis bracelet at Luvansh during the current sale. When you select anything at Luvansh the default metal is always 14K White Gold, and a 5 carat total weight diamond tennis bracelet in 14K White Gold is $2,407, but you have a total of 5 choices for white metal, 2 more expensive and 2 less expensive:

Platinum (950) $3,554

18K Gold (750) $3,464

14K Gold (585) $2,407

10K Gold (417) $1,664

Sterling Silver (925) $494

​And again, all of these are rhodium dipped and they all look identical. For two years there will be no difference at all until the rhodium eventually starts to wear off. At that point only the white gold options will expose you to nickel, while the silver and the platinum may get a little patina around the edges which many people actually desire, both the platinum and silver are hypoallergenic even if the silver starts to tarnish. If you want a direct comparison for what that $2,407 default price can get you in silver, you can get triple the carats and pocket $400 by grabbing a 15-carat bracelet for $2,069, or you can kick in an extra $200 and get a 20-carat version for $2,654.

​With the diamond stud earrings, the silver option allows you to get a 2-carat pair for the exact same price as a 1-carat pair:

• ​1 Carat Total Weight (14k White Gold): $337

• ​2 Carat Total Weight (925 Sterling Silver): $337

​By simply choosing the 925 silver setting instead of the default 14 karat white gold, you get two carat total weight instead of one, twice the diamonds for the exact same price. And again, they are both rhodium coated, and since there is no grit to wear the plating down on a stud earring like on a ring or a bracelet, the rhodium coating should last forever.

See? I just taught you how to get free diamonds by selecting the silver option on the Luvansh website: either by getting twice as many carats in stud earrings for the same price, or three times as many carats in a tennis bracelet, with enough money left over to get another set of 2 carat diamond stud earrings in 925 sterling silver.

​The Quality of the Stones

​We aren't talking about low-grade industrial diamonds. These are high-end F-G color stones with VS to SI1 clarity. It is important to understand that lab diamonds, much like high-end Russian white diamonds, do not have the black carbon inclusions often found in mined stones. I have asserted that these cheap lab diamonds are actually annealed Russian brown naturals where the IJK rating has been lifted to a D-color or close to it. Whether or not these are annealed Russian brown naturals or grown in a lab doesn't matter. They are all Type 2A and free of yellowing nitrogen.

​Because they are grown or treated in a controlled environment, an SI1 stone will typically have no inclusions visible to the naked eye under the table of the diamond. You get the icy, clear look of a much more expensive natural stone without the salt and pepper flaws of Type 1A stones. This F-G color range is near-white; when set into a white metal and rhodium coated, the finish brightens the stone even further and it is hard to tell that it's not a pure white diamond like a D or E. And now that Luvansh and other companies are setting these cheap lab diamonds in sterling silver it has slashed the price of lab diamond jewelry to below any level that I thought was even possible.

Note on Selection: Keep in mind that the default on the Luvansh website for any of their jewelry is always 14K White Gold. Not all jewelry has a silver option; for example, their premium line of D-color, VVS quality lab stones (the top-tier quality of lab diamonds now called "Premium" by the GIA) is not available in sterling silver. The silver setting options are reserved for the E - G color, VS to SI quality lab diamonds that are now considered "Standard" quality by the GIA, but as I've shown, this is still excellent quality that looks spectacular when finished.

​The Maintenance Myth

​Rhodium plating is not permanent on rings and bracelets, over time the constant friction with dust, dirt, and microscopic silica or sand will eventually wear that white finish down. Most jewelers actually recommend that you get white gold jewelry re-dipped every two years, which typically costs between $50 and $100.

​However, for the 925 Ag jewelry we are talking about here, a re-dip might not even be necessary. If the rhodium wears off the edges of a platinum or silver piece, it simply reveals a white metal underneath. It might create a soft patina look on the edges, which many people actually prefer. While the silver could eventually tarnish, it's a simple fix to have it cleaned or re-dipped if you want that mirror-white shine back. Compare this to white gold which exposes you to nickel as soon as the rhodium wears off.

​The Nickel Trap

​This isn't just about money; it’s about skin safety. Roughly 15% to 18% of women have an acquired nickel allergy, while only 3% to 4% of men have the same allergy. 10K, 14K, and 18K white gold all contain nickel to bleach the yellow gold more white. The surgical stainless steel used for healing piercings in the United States is another potential source for nickel sensitization; surgical stainless steel also contains nickel, and though it is locked in a matrix of steel, it is banned in Europe specifically for initial piercings because it exceeds their maximum allowable nickel release.

​The irony is that the cheapest option at Luvansh, the 925 Silver and the most expensive, the 950 Platinum are the only two white metal options that are truly hypoallergenic. All of the White Gold options are only hypoallergenic until the rhodium wears off, while all Yellow Gold and Rose Gold options are naturally hypoallergenic because they contain no nickel. By paying a premium for 14K white gold, you are actually paying more to risk a skin reaction once that plating is eventually compromised on high-friction pieces.

​Final Verdict

​With silver bouncing around $70 an ounce while gold is trading near $4,500, the metal itself is holding value, but it still lacks the massive prestige tax of gold or platinum. Skip all White Gold, you can't see it until the rhodium wears off, and then it exposes you to nickel. Silver is the new Platinum for jewelry, and it means that you can get two to three times as many carats in diamonds for the same price, in other words you can get free diamonds just by selecting 925 Ag for the settings instead of 14K White Gold.