History
Platinum is the newest of
the noble metals. It was not until 1557, following the Spanish
conquest of South America, that the first published references to a
hard-to-melt metal, Platinum, were noted by Julius Ceasar Scalinger,
the Italian scholar and poet. Specimens of the metal were not received
in Europe until the mid-eighteenth century.
Since then, the other five
metals of the Platinum group have been identified. These are Rhodium,
Ruthenium, Palladium, Iridium and Osmium. Each one of them is today
used in some form n the Jewelry industry. Notably, Rhodium as a
bright, hard, tarnish-free electroplate; Ruthenium, Iridium and
Palladium as alloying elements with Platinum or with each other; and
Osmium, the least abundant, in some pen-nibs.
Perhaps the first conscious
use of Platinum as a decorative material stemmed from the work of a
Parisian artist-metalworker, Marc Etienne Janety. Today, the only
known work of Janety can be seen at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, in
N.Y.C. The glass-lined Platinum sugar bowl is dated 1786, and the fine
detail in the 200 year old piece is testimony to the durability of the
metal.
Jewelry Uses
During the first 40 years of
this century, Platinum was the preferred metal for wedding and
engagement rings, and was almost always used to enhance the beauty of
diamonds and other gemstones.
Then, just prior to World War
II, Platinum was declared a strategic material and its use in most
non-military applications, including jewelry, was prohibited. During
this time, White gold was developed as a replacement. Out of sight out
of mind, and Platinum never quite regained its old position after it
was released from its embargo.
Despite the use of Platinum in
many and diverse industrial and scientific applications, the largest
single application today is in jewelry. This is almost entirely due to
the phenomenally large market in Japan. On a per capita basis,
Japanese people use at least 50 times the Platinum in jewelry than we
use in the United States.