All about precious metals -
gold, platinum, silver

   Platinum and gold are one of the rarest of precious metals, they are found in only a few locations around the world.To produce a single ounce of finished platinum, a total of 10 tons of ore must be mined and three tones of ore are required to produce one ounce of gold.The rarity of platinum versus gold gives it its cachet ( and cost).

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    Platinum is one of the strongest and most enduring of all metals, it is also one of the heaviest. A piece of diamond jewelry containing 90 percent pure platinum weighs 60 percent more than 14-karat gold piece of similar size.The platinum piece will cost over than three times more than the 14-karats one.

    In the United States, diamond platinum jewelry generally contains anywhere from 85 to 95 percent pure platinum.By comparison, 18-karat gold is 75 percent pure gold and 14-karat gold is 58 percent pure gold.

   If a piece of platinum is marked "Platinum," it contains at least 95 percent pure platinum .Jewelry with 85 to 95 percent pure platinum is marked "850 PLAT " or "950 PLAT" or "950 Pt.,"etc.

    Diamond jewelry containing at least 50 percent pure platinum and at least 95 percent platinum group metals (palladium, iridium, osmium, rhodium and ruthenium) is marked with the platinum content followed by the other metal.For example:"600 Plat.350 Irid."

    Diamond jewelry contains less than 50 percent pure platinum content cannot be marked with the word "platinum" or any abbreviation thereof.