What is Platinum? Why is it a good material in creating fine Jewelry?

What is Platinum? 

   Platinum is a natural chemical element, where you can find in the periodic table. It is an element which is a dense, malleable, ductile, highly unreactive, precious, and silverfish-white transition metal. Due to these features, Platinum is famous in being applied to two primary industries, like the semi-conductor industry and jewelry industry. Many of you might have heard of lots of precious metal to create jewelry, but you must not miss out Platinum (Pt). Platinum is a scarce metal that is even rarer than Gold. Because of its scarcity in Earth’s crust, the production amount is just a few hundred tons annually, and given its important uses, it is highly valuable and is a major precious metal commodity.

Even though Platinum’s color is silverfish-white and pretty similar to Silver, the value between both metals is enormous due to several reasons. If you want to learn more about the differences, please watch the video from PLATINUM vs WHITE GOLD, Top 5 Differences.

Durability

   As mentioned above, Platinum is a natural element and highly unreactive; therefore, jewelry made from it could never fade and change its form, thanks to the high melting point as well; the melting point is around 1768°C, almost twice higher than 18K Gold. As a result, Platinum is very durable.

   On the other hand, as Platinum is a pure element that will not oxidize. Therefore, the color will not change even decades of years. ByEnzo treats this as one of the most attractive features when you are considering jewelry that could last for decades, especially memorable jewelry.

Weight

   By comparing the weight with 18K White Gold, Platinum is around 53% denser. For people who prefer to have a dense feeling from its jewelry, Platinum will be the best option for sure. While for Silver or White Gold, as it is much lighter, it might be more suitable in creating small pieces of jewelry like earrings which you do not usually wish to have too much weight on your ears.

Classification of Platinum

   In some European countries, every retails have to hallmark their product albeit the legislation. So, in the United Kingdom, France, Netherland, Switerzland, and Poland, etc., have their own Assay Office in hallmarking, for example. The Goldsmith's Company Assay Office is where hallmarking began and hallmarking precious metals for over 700 years located at London. 

   

   While for countries which do not have an assay office or official institution to hallmarking, then you better check with the retail store carefully in order to protect your own rights. You can request a product guarantee by stipulating the weight and purity of the precious metal. But some of the retails might engrave the purity even it is not required by law, for instance. 

   *This is an example of hallmarking from ByEnzo, 2019. It is a Platinum Jewelry Retail from South Korea 

   In the jewelry industry, 4 types of Platinum could hallmark, including 850, 900, 950, and 999. This figure represents the metal purity of the jewelry, so for example, Pt950 means that the jewelry is consisting of 95% of Platinum and 5% of other metal alloys. 

   To create a better alloy for the jewelry, Pt950 is the best ratio with Ruthenium and Iridium. In ByEnzo, we are using these three types of precious metal for the best results in terms of the dense, brightness, and alignment of the jewelry.