I bought this ring yesterday. The jeweller could price the the 10 point diamond just by looking at it, however without his trusty XRF there was no way he could tell me what was the composition of the alloy without melting it down. Not sure why this ring was crafted using such a strange mix; would appreciate an explanation if anyone here knows?
The Pd "bleaches" the gold to make white gold - old style. My mum had one from the 40's (Edit: seems to be New Style too) Wikipaedia:- "Prior to 2004, the principal use of palladium in jewelry was the manufacture of white gold. In early 2004, when gold and platinum prices rose steeply, China began fabricating significant volumes of palladium jewelry and used 37 tonnes of palladium for this purpose in 2005. Changes of the relative price between palladium and platinum after 2008 lowered demand for palladium to 17.4 tonnes in 2009."
20.91% gold = bang on 5K so 5K white gold is my guess. Palladium and silver used to whiten the gold, maybe with a rhodium plating to give it shine.
