Real platinum jewelry is nearly always marked, and the mark is the first check: PT950, 950, PLAT, PLATINUM, PT900, 900PT, PT850, or on American pieces from the 1920s to 1950s, IRIDPLAT or 10% IRID PLAT. The second check is weight. Platinum is about 21.4 grams per cubic centimeter, heavier than 18k gold at about 15.5, 14k at about 13, and sterling silver at about 10.4, so a platinum ring feels noticeably heavier than the same ring in white gold, and almost twice as heavy as the same ring in silver. The third check is color under wear: platinum is a soft grey-white all the way through and never shows yellow at the worn spots, where rhodium-plated white gold does. If the mark, the weight and the color all agree, the piece is very probably platinum. If any one disagrees, a jeweler with an XRF analyzer or a platinum acid test settles it in a few minutes, usually for little or nothing.
Platinum is worth about $1,000 per troy ounce as of late 2026, which is about $32 per gram pure and about $30 per gram for 950 alloy. That is a quarter of the gold price, so per gram a platinum ring is worth less than the same ring in 14k gold. The value of most platinum jewelry is in the stones and the workmanship, not the metal.
How to check yours, step by step
- Find and read the mark. Use a loupe or your phone camera zoomed in. Rings carry the mark inside the shank, often next to a maker's mark. Pendants and brooches carry it on the back or on the bail. Chains carry it on the clasp or on a small tag by the clasp. Earrings carry it on the post or the back. Read the whole mark: PT950 and PLAT are platinum; 14K, 18K, 585, 750 and WG are white gold; 925 is silver; PD or PD950 is palladium; a mark that says PLATINAIRE or PLATINUM BONDED is a silver alloy with a trace of platinum, worth silver.
- Weigh it. A kitchen scale that reads to 0.1 gram is enough. A plain platinum wedding band 4 mm wide in a size 7 weighs about 6-8 grams; the same band in 14k white gold weighs about 4-5 grams and in silver about 3-4 grams. If the piece has stones, the comparison is rougher, but a platinum setting still feels dense in the hand in a way white gold does not.
- Look at the worn spots. The underside of a ring shank and the edges of a pendant show the metal underneath any plating. Platinum is the same grey-white there as everywhere else, with a soft satin look where it has been scratched. White gold that has lost its rhodium shows a warm yellowish or greyish-yellow tone. Silver tarnishes to grey-black. Platinum does not tarnish.
- Try a magnet. A strong magnet should not attract platinum, gold or silver. A pull means steel or a base metal. One exception: some cast 950 platinum alloys use cobalt as the 5 percent and show a faint pull, so a weak attraction on a marked PT950 piece is not a verdict, while a strong snap is.
- Check the patina. Platinum does not wear away when scratched; the metal is pushed aside, so an old platinum ring keeps its weight and develops a frosted, satiny surface. White gold scratches brighter and loses metal over decades, so an antique white gold band is thinner at the bottom than at the top. An old ring that is still full and heavy at the base is a good sign.
- Do a density check if you can. Weigh the piece in air, then suspended in a cup of water on the scale, and divide the dry weight by the difference. Platinum alloys come out around 20-21.5; 18k white gold around 15-16; 14k around 12.5-14.5; silver about 10.4; stainless steel about 8. Stones and hollow parts throw this off, so use it on plain bands and solid pieces only.
- Let a jeweler test it. Platinum testing acid is a strong mix that leaves real platinum untouched and attacks white gold and silver within seconds; a jeweler applies it to a small streak on a test stone, not to the piece. XRF reads the alloy without touching it. Either takes a few minutes and most jewelers charge nothing or a few dollars.
What the marks mean
| Mark | Metal | Purity | Where seen |
|---|---|---|---|
| PT950, 950, PLAT 950, 950PT | Platinum | 95 percent | Most modern rings worldwide |
| PLAT, PLATINUM | Platinum | 95 percent or more by US rule | US pieces, older and modern |
| IRIDPLAT, 10% IRID PLAT, PLAT 90 IRID 10 | Platinum-iridium | 90 percent platinum | US Art Deco and mid-century, 1920s-1950s |
| PT900, 900PT, 900 PLAT | Platinum | 90 percent | Japan, older US |
| PT850, 850 | Platinum | 85 percent | Japan, Europe, chains |
| PT585, 585PT | Platinum | 58.5 percent | Some German pieces; rare |
| PT999, PT1000 | Platinum | Pure | Japanese chains and bars |
| 950 inside a pentagon, or an orb | Platinum | 95 percent | UK hallmark, with an assay office mark |
| Dog's head | Platinum | 95 percent | French hallmark |
| PT with 14K or 18K | Gold with platinum parts | Mixed | Prongs or heads in platinum on a gold ring; priced as mostly gold |
| PD950, PD, PALLADIUM | Palladium | 95 percent | Lighter, cheaper sister metal |
| PLATINAIRE, PLATINUM BONDED | Silver alloy | Under 6 percent platinum | Worth silver |
| 14K WG, 18K WG, 585, 750 | White gold | 58.5 or 75 percent gold | Not platinum, but worth more per gram as of late 2026 |
US law requires at least 950 parts per thousand platinum group metals for an unqualified PLAT mark, and most of that platinum itself, which is why IRIDPLAT pieces, at 900, carry the qualifier. Our guide to how to read jewelry hallmarks covers the maker's marks and assay stamps that often sit next to these.
What platinum is worth
Prices below are melt values at about $1,000 per troy ounce as of late 2026. Buyers of scrap pay about 80-90 percent of melt. Finished jewelry sells for more than melt when the piece or the stones are desirable, and most platinum jewelry is worth more as a piece than as metal.
| Item | Typical weight | Metal value, about | What it usually sells for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plain 950 wedding band, 4 mm | 6-8 g | $180-245 | $150-350 secondhand; new retail $600-1,200 |
| Solitaire setting, no stone | 4-6 g | $120-180 | Priced by the stone when set |
| Art Deco filigree ring, IRIDPLAT | 3-5 g | $85-145 | $400-2,500 as a piece, by stones and condition |
| Platinum chain, 18 inch, 850 or 950 | 5-15 g | $135-460 | $200-700 |
| Platinum stud earring backs or settings | 1-2 g | $30-60 | Priced by the diamonds |
| Mid-century diamond cluster ring | 8-12 g | $245-365 | $1,000-5,000 as a piece |
| Watch case, platinum | 30-60 g | $900-1,800 | Far more as a watch; never scrap |
| 14k white gold band for comparison, 4 mm | 4-5 g | $300-375 | 14k gold is worth about $75 per gram as of late 2026 |
The comparison row is the honest surprise: at current prices, a 14k white gold ring is worth more as metal than the same ring in platinum, and an 18k ring at about $96 per gram is worth three times as much per gram. People who inherited a "platinum set" that turns out to be white gold have not lost anything. The guide to 10k, 14k and 18k gold explains the gold side, and how to tell if gold is real covers the same tests from the other direction.
What it is not
- Rhodium-plated white gold. The most common confusion. Bright white when new, marked 14K or 18K, yellowish where worn. Worth more per gram than platinum as of late 2026, so this is good news.
- Silver. Marked 925 or STERLING, lighter, tarnishes to black, often made in the same Art Deco styles. Worth about $1.20 per gram as metal.
- Palladium. Marked PD or PD950, a real precious metal, grey-white like platinum but about 40 percent lighter and worth less.
- Stainless steel and titanium. Unmarked or marked STEEL or TI, very light for their size, magnetic in the case of most steel. Modern men's bands in these metals are often sold in platinum-looking boxes.
- Platinum-plated base metal. Rare, because plating with platinum is expensive and pointless; more often the piece is rhodium-plated brass marked nothing at all.
- Platinaire and bonded silver. A real alloy, sold honestly as what it is, but worth silver, and sometimes relisted secondhand as platinum.
A piece that is marked PLAT but weighs like silver, or marked 950 but shows yellow in the worn spots, is a piece that was remarked or replated. It happens with old rings that were resized with a cheaper shank. An XRF reading of the shank and of the head separately shows it.
How WorthPic reads platinum photos
WorthPic runs on the newest and most capable AI model available, tuned for exactly this kind of identification. A clear photo of the mark, a photo of the whole piece on a plain background, a shot of the worn underside and the reading on a kitchen scale are the four things it works from. It reads the mark against the table above, checks that the style of the piece matches the era the mark implies, so an IRIDPLAT stamp on a modern cast setting is a mismatch, looks at the color and the surface in the worn areas for the satin patina platinum takes and the yellow that white gold shows, and compares the weight you report with what a piece of that size would weigh in platinum, gold and silver. It then gives an honest range: the metal value at the current price, and what the piece is likely to sell for given the stones and the workmanship visible. When the mark is too small to read or the underside is not shown, it says so and asks for that photo rather than guessing. It identifies and estimates. It never authenticates or vouches; a jeweler with an XRF analyzer or a platinum acid test, with the piece in hand, is what settles anything worth more than a few hundred dollars.
What to photograph
- The mark, as close and sharp as your camera allows, with a lamp to the side so the stamp casts a shadow. This is the photo that settles most cases.
- The whole piece on a plain background in daylight, front and back.
- The underside of a ring shank or the edge of a pendant, where plating wears through.
- The piece on a kitchen scale, with the reading visible.
- Any stones straight on and from the side, so the setting style is visible.
- Any maker's mark or hallmark next to the purity mark.
When to get it looked at in person
- A jeweler with an XRF analyzer reads the alloy in seconds without marking the piece. Most jewelers and bullion dealers have one and charge nothing or a few dollars.
- A jeweler with acid testing uses platinum test acid on a streak from the piece; cheap and reliable for plain pieces, slightly less so for plated ones, which is why XRF is preferred.
- An appraiser for anything with significant stones. The metal is rarely the value in a platinum piece; the diamonds are, and a written appraisal is what an insurer or a buyer wants.
For silver pieces in the same box, how to tell if silver is real covers the 925 and STERLING marks and the tests for plate.