At Gold Smart you can sell platinum jewellery and palladium items for cash. This could be a platinum ring, necklace, bullion or item item containing precious metals. Since platinum is more typical in jewellery, here are some interesting facts about this metal.
Platinum is a chemical element with the symbol Pt. At normal temperature, platinum appears in its solid form. It was discovered by the Andean people and the Spaniards came to know it in 1735 when they came to South America. It is used to manufacture electrodes and jewellery. Also, it is widely used as a catalyst in chemical reactions.
Platinum jewellery is hypoallergenic, strong, durable and resistant to stains and loss of sheen. Unlike most gold jewellery items, platinum jewellery typically contains platinum in its almost pure form.
All platinum jewellery must have a tag that shows the purity:
- 900 Pt (or 900 Plat), marked “900 Pt” or “900 Plat”, indicates that platinum is 90% pure.
- 950 Pt (or 950 Plat) / Pt (or Plat) marked “950 Plat” or simply “Plat” indicates that platinum is 95% pure.
Platinum offers a sturdy grip for diamonds and gemstones, but the strength of the metal can make re-sizing patinum rings difficult.
The Andean people discovered platinum and used as a substitute for silver. It was known by the Spanish in 1735, when the Spanish navigator, explorer and astronomer Antonio de Ulloa arrived in South America.
In 1741, platinum was taken to China. For several centuries it was used to make fake gold items, due to its similarity in density.
Some people even today get confused thinking that platinum and white gold are the same thing, but they are in fact completely different. Normally white gold jewellery is made using yellow gold and at least one white metal, usually nickel, manganese or palladium and typically a coating of rhodium to obtain the white-light effect. Therefore, white gold doesn’t have the same purity, rarity, durability and natural white colour of platinum.
If you have any platinum items that you wish to sell, whether it is jewellery or bullion bars, please contact us today.
Gold panning is becoming more and more popular amongst geology enthusiasts in New Zealand and all over the world. Also called simply panning, gold panning is a way to extract gold using, in most cases, few resources, low investment, simple equipment and rustic tools. The process is one of the simplest and also the oldest methods of mining gold.
About a year ago, 3 year old James Hyatt used a metal detector for the first time in his life and BINGO: he found a gold pendant of the 16th century that was worth £2.5 million pounds (or NZ$4.7 million in today’s rate).
MacIver, who is a writer and photographer, said his effort of walking to the river – which was carrying a backpack of 30 kilograms in gold mining equipment – was worth it.
If you do a little online research, you will see that there are numerous websites and so called experts who claim that they or their systems can predict the future price of gold. Sometimes price and value predictions are correct, however hindsight can be a wonderful thing. You may not be sure if their claims are true, pure luck or genuine expert advice.
