Testing For Real Gold, Platinum, Silver, Palladium & Other Precious Metals

Platinum is an extremely rare and precious white-grey metal. It is found naturally in the alluvial sands of rivers. Platinum is the strongest of the precious metals used in jewelry design and it is among the heaviest as well. It is almost twice as heavy as 14K gold. But ultimately it’s platinum’s luster and history that makes it so desirable as a fashion accessory. Platinum is 30 times more scarce than gold. It does not tarnish and is resistant to corrosion, making its shine forever. Only 30 tons of platinum is said to be mined worldwide each year compared to about 2,600 tons of gold. Platinum is mostly mined in South Africa , Russia and Canada .

Although the modern history of platinum only begins in the 18th century, platinum has been found in objects dating from 700 BC. For the Spanish Conquistadors of the 16th century,platinum was an inferior material and called it “Little Silver”, that was found mixed with gold and was difficult to separate. During the 18th century platinum was a tough challenge to European scientists trying to understand and use the metal. Their difficulties came from the very properties which make platinum versatile and suitable for many applications. Scientists discovered platinum’s extraordinary properties and noted that it did not melt by fire. With its extremely high melting point, many scientists did not know what to make of platinum for many years until 1751 when a Swedish scientist categorized it as a precious metal. In 1803 British scientist WH Wallaston discovered a process of refining platinum, facilitating its commercial use. By 1804, palladium, rhodium, iridium and osmium had all been discovered. Meanwhile Wollaston perfected a method of producing malleable platinum. Ruthenium was discovered in 1844. After the founding of Jhonson and Matthey in 1851, the techniques of separation and refining of platinum group metals and the melting and casting of pure and homogeneous ingots were perfected. Platinum mine production has grown continuously since the Second World War in response to the development of new applications in areas such as the petroleum industry; jewellery; autocatalysts for air pollution control; fuel cells; medical treatments and physical investment products. In 1939 during the second world war platinum was declared a strategic metal and could no londer be used for making jewelry. By 1947platinum was once again used in jewelry designing and lots of platinum jewelry was displayed at the “White Heat” Exhibition in NewYork.

Platinum was used by the kings and queens for ornamental purposes since the reign of King Louis XV1 of France (1780), who declared Platinum as the metal for the kings. He got many platinum pieces designed for him by his fine jeweler Mare Etienee Janety including the famous Ornate sugar bowl. In 1788 King Carlos III of Spain commissioned Francisco Alonso to create an ornate platinum Chalise, which was presented to the Pope Pius VI. Platinum, due to its durability was used in 1795 to create the Metric system of weights during the French revolution in France.At present this Platinum Cylinder is kept at the International Bureau of Weights and measures in Paris , France . In 1884 Peter Cark Faberge, jeweler of the Tzars created the first Annual easter eggs using platinum. In 1990 Loius Cartier was the first jeweler to successfully create platinum jewelry. Cartier jewelry designs had become very popular worldwide among the Royal during the reign of King Edward VII who nicknamed Cartier as the Jeweler of Kings. During the 1930`s Leading Hollywood ladies choose platinum as their preferred metal for designing their jewelry and this trend still continues among the Hollywood celebrities and couples. Read More.

Ancient History of Gold

Gold – this beautiful, attractive and highly precious metal has been known for at least 5500 years. The world gold comes from the Sanskrit word Jval and the Anglo-Saxon word gold. Gold's chemical symbol comes from the the latin word for gold, aurum. Gold is a beauty, scarce, unique dense metal that occurs in a virtually pure and workable state unlike other metals tend to be found in ore-bodies. Gold is also a very easy metal to work with as it can be easily melted. Gold, due to it brilliance and characteristic of permanence i.e it does not corrode nor tarnish, was linked to deities and royalty in early civilizations. Early civilizations equated gold with gods and rulers, and gold was sought in their name and dedicated to their glorification.

Gold's early uses include the creation of shrines, idols and ornamental jewelry for personal adornment. Later the use expanded to household items and furniture of the higher classes like plates, cups, vases and vessels of all kinds. The first use of gold as money occurred around 700 B.C., when Lydian merchants produced the first coins. These were simply stamped lumps of a 63% gold and 27% silver mixture known as 'electrum.’ These Gold coins helped them a lot in trading. Lydia had amassed such huge hoard of gold by the time of Croesus of Mermnadae, the last King of Lydia (570 -546 B.C.) that even today, we still speak of the ultra-wealthy as being 'rich as Croesus.'

Evidence of a gold/silver value ratio dates back to 3100BC in the code of Menes, the founder of the first Egyptian dynasty. In this code it is stated that "one part of gold is equal to two and one half parts of silver in value." This is our earliest of a value relationship between gold and silver. Early sources of gold were from Ethiopia . The Egyptians mined their own gold plus traded with the Nubians to get gold. In ancient Egypt , around the time of Seti I (1320 B.C.), we find the creation of the first gold treasure map now known to us. Today, in the Turin Museum is a papyrus and fragments known as the "Carte des mines d'or." It pictures gold mines, miners' quarters, road leading to the mines and gold-bearing mountains, and so on. Egyptian goldsmiths carry out the first melting or fusing of ores in order to separate the metals inside. They use blowpipes made from fire-resistant clay to heat the smelting furnace. In West Africe gold was traded for salt It was often called the Gold coast by the Portugese.

Spain has a rich history of gold mines. The Phoenicians came to spain about 700BC and traded with the Iberians. Later the Carthanginians invaded spain for gold and silver and later the Romans fought the second Punic war to get control of the gold mines to build their empire. In around 100AD, the Romans conquered Dacia under the leadership of Emperor Trajan to get control of the gold there. When Rome began to flourish, the city attracted talented Gold artisans who created gold jewelry of wide variety. The use of gold in Rome later expanded into household items and furniture in the homes of the higher classes. By the third century AD, the citizens of Rome wore necklaces that contained coins with the image of the emperor.

The Greeks mined for gold throughout the Mediterranean and Middle East regions by 550 B.C. Goldsmiths flourished in mesopotamis, modern Iraq. They made gorgeous pieces og jewelry like burial headdress of lapis and carnelian beads with willow leaf-shaped gold pendants. Use of gold also flourished in the Persian empire, Modern Iran. Persian gold work is famous for its animal art. When the Arabs conquered Persia the build further on Persian gold artwork with modifications.

Archaeological digs suggest the use of Gold began in the Middle East where the first known civilizations began. The oldest pieces of gold jewelry, Egyptian jewelry, were found in the tomb of Queen Zer and of Queen Pu-abi of Ur in Sumeria and are the oldest examples found of any kind of jewelry in a find from the third millennium BC. Over the centuries, most of the Egyptian tombs were raided, but the tomb of Tutankhamen was discovered undisturbed by modern archaeologists. Inside, the largest collection of gold and jewelry in the world was found and included a gold coffin whose quality showed the advanced state of Egyptian craftsmanship and gold working (second millennium BC)

In 1717 the UK Gold standard was established.when the British government linked the currency to gold at a fixed rate. The discovery of gold in the Sacramento Valley in California by John Marshall in early 1848 sparked the Gold Rush, one of the most significant events to shape American history during the first half of the 19th century. A total of $2 billion worth of precious metal was extracted from the area during the Gold Rush, which peaked in 1852. In 1885 miners flocked to South Africa to try their luck and become rich when Australian miner George Harrison found gold ore on Langlaagte farm near Johannesburg leading to the African gold rush. All major countries other than China switched to the gold standard, linking their currencies to gold between 1870-1900.The adoption of the gold standards guaranteed that any amount of paper money could be redeemed by the currency's government for its value in gold. Read More.