precious metal : An Introduction To Platinum

People have always been fascinated with precious metals, and given their rarity, people have also put a lot of value on them. Some of the more common precious metals include gold, silver, copper, titanium and platinum. Among these metals, gold is the most popular given that it has been used for various purposes such as jewelry and for a time, the amount of gold that a country had was the measure of its wealth. In addition to this, the high value that people placed on gold is also because finding gold is very difficult as it has to be mined and it takes a huge amount of ore to produce a small quantity of gold. However, platinum, which is rarer than gold, is becoming very popular and it may be on its way in replacing gold as the precious metal of choice for jewelry.

Platinum Facts

The Ancient Egyptians discovered platinum 2,500 years ago, but throughout history, gold has been more popular. However, platinum is more rare and it is 60 percent more dense than gold, which makes it more valuable. An illustration of how rare this metal is that estimates show that if all the platinum that has been mined throughout history were compiled, it would only produce a cube that would measure 17 feet on each side, which is equivalent to less than 5,000 cubic feet. In addition to this, a typical 6-inch cube of platinum would weigh about 165 pounds. It also usually takes up to ten tons of ore just to produce one once of platinum, which is twice of what is needed to produce the same amount of gold.

Platinum Jewelry

Given that platinum is considered more valuable, it has become the preferred option for use in jewelry. Apart from its value, platinum has also become the preferred choice for certain types of jewelry, specifically diamond jewelry because its white color perfectly matches with diamonds. Platinum has also been proven to be stronger than gold and it has also been proven to be tarnish resistant. Given these facts, platinum has now been considered the metal equivalent of diamonds as it is said to last forever. Apart from this, platinum has also been considered the ideal choice for people with sensitive skin because the metals that platinum is alloyed with are mostly hypoallergenic. Due to all of these factors, many people have been reconsidering platinum, and it is now also considered a worthy investment, as well.

By Damian Sofsian