Guide to Buying Platinum @ Jewel Info 4 U
By: Madhubanti Rudra
It is gorgeous; it is exotic!
It is the hardest; it is the most
expensive!
It is platinum---a precious metal
that has been captivating the
imagination of contemporary jewelry
designers in a big way!
Designers' favorite element for
fashioning wedding bands and
engagement rings, Platinum has great
aesthetic as well practical value.
Below are few platinum facts that a
first time buyer will find extremely
helpful.
 Diamonds are forever, gold is
conventional, sterling silver is
chic, but jewelry wardrobes are
incomplete without the special zest
of silver-white platinum. Currently
the fastest growing jewelry
material, Platinum is ideal for
making rings, bracelets and
necklaces. Its natural whit luster
makes it the perfect companion for
dazzling diamonds. It happens to be
the most expensive of all precious
metals and widely employed by the
designers as base metal for light
colored gems, especially the pink
and light blue varieties. But it is
equally brilliant without any
enhancement; a polished platinum
piece is elegant and eye catching in
its own right.
Why go for platinum?The heavy and enduring metal,
Platinum is used by world's renowned
jewelry designers for creating
inspired jewelry pieces. Here are a
few reasons why you should consider
an investment in this highly
expensive metal.
Platinum's chemical properties make
it a dense, extremely heavy and
remarkably enduring metal. Al these
qualities make a platinum jewelry an
aesthetically pleasing and
monetarily valuable possession.
On the practical side, Platinum
jewelry pieces are subject to
minimum wear and tear effects.
Common household chemicals like
chlorine, bleach, or detergents fail
to tarnish its color or damage it in
any other ways. Due to all these
reasons, platinum is considered much
more stable element than gold and
silver.
With an unquestionable longevity,
platinum jewelry retains its
cosmetic value for generations.
Platinum looks brilliant when teamed
up with diamonds or other colored
gemstones. This remarkably strong
metal is particularly good at
holding gemstones firmly in place.
As prongs and other setting
components, Platinum is the best
metal to work with.
Then, platinum is considered the
best metal to make diamond jewelry.
While teamed up with yellow gold,
the metal leaves a yellow tint on
the colorless diamond and this can
bring down the value of the piece.
But platinum's silver-white luster
rightly complements the brilliance
of diamond and as a result,
platinum-diamond combination makes
the hottest pair in jewelry
designing circuit. So it comes as no
surprise when world's top jewelry
houses like Cartier, Faberge and
Tiffany choose platinum as base
metal for creating their striking
diamond jewelry pieces.
Although a tough metal, it is
alloyed with some tougher metal to
prevent it from bending. But as
compared to traditional gold and
silver jewelry pieces, platinum
pieces have very little alloy in
them--- usually not exceeding 10%.
As a result, platinum is largely
hypoallergenic.
The chemical properties that
bring out the magic in platinumPlatinum belongs to Platinum Group
of Metals, or PGM.
PGM again consists of six related
metals including Platinum, Iridium,
Palladium, Ruthenium, Rhodium and
Osmium. Now all these metals
belonging to PGM family have very
high melting point. This is because
at the time of melting, the PGM
metals require oxygen to be mixed
with the fuel.
A unique feature of PGM metals is:
they do not require flux when
soldering and also resist
tarnishing. It is possible to cast
these metals, but that requires
extra investment due to their high
melting point.
To date Russia is the biggest
supplier of platinum. The lion's
share of the produce goes into
making jewelry; the rest is used in
medical industry and the automotive
industry.
Understanding platinum content
and markingWhen it comes to buy metal jewelry,
you have to consider the purity of
the metal. To know how pure your
platinum is, you must have a basic
idea about its content and markings.
This is important because it helps
you choose the right combination
that is most suitable for the
platinum jewelry you are purchasing.
Metals in their raw forms are not
suitable for making jewelry---in
order to make them stronger, other
alloys are added to them. How pure a
metal is depends on the amount of
alloys mixed with it.
US Federal Government has stipulated
specific standards for different
types of metals.
Let's take the instance of gold. So
far as gold is concerned, you can
refer to the following standard to
judge its purity.24kt: 100% gold
18kt: 75% gold
14kt: 58% gold
12kt: 50% gold
 So far as platinum jewelry pieces
are concerned, they can contain
different percentages of pure
platinum. The ratio of pure platinum
and alloys is expressed in "parts
per thousand". According to the US
Federal Trade Commission (FTC)
determined marking standards, if a
jewelry piece is said to contain 950
parts per thousand of pure platinum,
it will be regarded as "pure
platinum jewelry".
A couple of example will help you
understand the platinum marking more
clearly.
The jewelry is made of "950 Pt"
platinum means: it uses a metal that
has 95% pure platinum in the mix and
5% other metals.
The jewelry is "650 Pt. 350 Ir"
means: it has 650 parts pure
platinum and 350 parts iridium.
Similarly a marking such as "550Pt.
350Pd. 50Ir" means the jewelry has
550 parts pure platinum. The rest of
the mix contains 350 parts palladium
and 50 parts iridium.
According to the long standing FTP
guidelines, jewelry pieces must
contain at least 85% pure platinum
or 850 parts per thousand to be
considered pure platinum jewelry.
But designers have been demanding a
correction in the current FTP
standards so that jewelry pieces
containing less than 85% platinum
are also regarded as "pure platinum"
jewelry. If lower percentage is
accepted by the US Federal
Government, it will open up greater
opportunities for the small
jewelers, who are often kept out of
the market due to platinum's
prohibitive price.
When it comes to create stand-alone
pieces, jewelry designers would
invariably pick platinum. Platinum
is far more expensive than pure gold
and it has higher and faster
appreciation than gold. It is the
metal's rarity that add to its
exorbitant price---it is 30 times
rarer than gold. Platinum jewelry
pieces are most popular as
engagement rings and wedding bands.
It is great to send or receive
platinum jewelry gift---after all
platinum is something that few can
possess.
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