Platinum proves its mettle
By Diana Rossetti
Copley News Service

That platinum bracelet encircling your wrist likely is the product of hundreds of man-hours of mining in a country halfway around the world.

Thirty-five times more rare than gold, a single ounce of platinum is taken from 10 tons of ore and eight weeks' work. Only 5 tons of ore are required to obtain the same amount of gold.

To the untrained eye, platinum and white gold may appear indistinguishable. But jewelers know that platinum's heft gives it away. Also, older pieces of platinum take on a patina unique to the metal.

Though all the white metals - sterling silver, white gold and platinum - began to grow in popularity during the '90s, the good financial times spurred buyers to look for the finest metal.

"Platinum always has been considered to be the premier metal when it comes to its purity from the luxury standpoint," said Alan Rodriguez, owner of House of Stones in New Philadelphia, Ohio. "People looking at white gold and platinum on someone's hand see similarities. But platinum is roughly four times the price of white gold."

Robert Ball of Henry B. Ball Jewelers in Canton, Ohio, explained that 14 karat gold is 14 parts pure gold with 10 parts of a hardening metal. Nickel gives white gold its color. Platinum, on the other hand, is alloyed with other platinum-group metals, so it is 100 percent pure.

An engagement ring and wedding band of platinum are the choice of many of today's brides, said Ball, who noted that the preponderance of the platinum market is in bridal sales. He thinks he knows why.

"A lot of people getting engaged today have grown up with white metals. They're used to wearing silver in school. The result is, as adults, they're asking for white metals," reasoned the veteran jeweler.

Today's young couples would have no memory of the U.S. government's ban on the use of platinum for jewelry at the beginning of World War II. It was declared a strategic metal and its use in nonmilitary applications was disallowed. That ban is what turned white-metal jewelry aficionados to white gold. But, for those who already had experienced the luxury of platinum, gold was never quite as good.
"Platinum does not wear the same as gold. Gold wears away, and platinum will last many times longer, based on its atomic structure. When you scratch platinum, you're parting the metal, not wearing it away," Ball explained.

A couple planning to mark their 50th wedding anniversary recently consulted with Rodriguez.

"They were wanting to get a new ring to commemorate that day. But she still wore the original platinum engagement ring from 50 years ago," Rodriguez said. "And that is the best testimonial I can give to platinum, its longevity and durability. White gold will have long ago been replaced. But as platinum ages, there is a grayness, a dullness to the metal that is appealing to a lot of people."

Platinum purists who opt to expand their collection with earrings, bracelets and necklaces, Rodriguez said, tend to choose smaller, more delicate pieces simply because of the metal's weight. He added that strong trends in platinum jewelry design are toward what now is called modern retro, influenced by old engravings and filigrees from the early 1900s, "taking us back to happier times."

Another platinum selling point is its nonallergenic properties. Those with allergic reaction to other metals often find platinum to be the answer, Ball said.

For those collectors who believed they were at the forefront of the platinum craze in the '90s, Helena Krodel of the Jewelry Information Center in New York has news.

The ancient Egyptians and South American Incas prized it, she said. France's Louis XVI proclaimed it to be the only metal fit for royalty. And legendary jewelers Cartier, Faberge and Tiffany created their timeless designs in platinum.

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