Platinum is the"Most Precious" Precious Metal:

Platinum is the rarest of the precious metals.

More than 90% of all platinum supplies come from South Africa and Russia. Virtually all of the platinum mined in South Africa is committed to industrial contracts.

In contrast with gold and silver, there are no large above-ground platinum stockpiles to protect against significant supply disruptions.

Approximately 10 tons of raw ore must be mined to produce just one pure ounce of platinum.

Today, the finest and most elegant jewelry contains platinum

Platinum, is more precious, and more enduring than gold.

It is truly a magical metal.

HISTORY takes us back over 3000 years to ancient Egypt where the remarkable metalsmiths of that time became extremely skilled in the art of working with platinum. A 2500 year old coffin of an Egyptian High Priestess was discovered, decorated with platinum hieroglyphs. Their polish and luster were still perfect, giving dramatic proof of platinum's incomparable strength and durability.

Another ancient people who created adornments from platinum were the Incas. But the invading Spanish Conquistadors saw little use for the this metal, and deemed it "silver of lesser value", platina. They even went so far as to throw great amounts of the metal into the sea, thinking that it might become a cheap imitation for silver.

Finally, during the eighteenth century, platinum's value as a metal supremely suited for jewelry started to take hold. Then in the nineteenth century, platinum became the de-facto standard for setting the finest of the newly discovered gemstone, the diamond. In fact, the most famous of these gems, the Koh-I-Nor, the Jonker, and the Hope diamonds were all set in platinum.

PLATINUM is the hardest of the precious metals, it never tarnishes. Its intense luster remains intact over the years, and it is completely hypoallergenic.

Platinum is extremely dense, and remarkably heavy. Much more so than silver or gold. This property of platinum enhances and ennobles the quality of the jewelry from which it is created.

The ultimate stability of platinum over the years is unmatched. It does not wear, and its extreme level of durability offers a profound guarantee of strength and longevity. When a customer comes into our shop to have their great grandmother's ring cleaned, invariably, the ring is made from platinum.

PLATINUM FACTS

• Platinum requires special skills and tools to work with. The image above shows a platinum wedding band just after pre-polishing work was done on a lathe. The ring is already so polished it shows a reflection of the photographer taking the picture, even though it is spinning around at thousands of rpm.
• Platinum has an extremely high melting temperature. In its purest form it melts at 3214 degrees F, almost twice the temperature needed to melt 14 karat gold.
• All the platinum ever mined would produce a cube 17 feet on each side, less than 5000 cubic feet.
• It takes up to 10 tons of ore to produce one ounce of platinum, more than twice as much ore that is typically needed for an ounce of gold.
• Platinum is not susceptible to problems like stress corrosion or stress cracking as can be the case with white gold. (This problem mainly applies to prong settings etc. Don't worry, your white gold wedding band will not suffer this problem).

White Gold

White gold is an alloy of gold and at least one white metal, such as silver or palladium. Like yellow gold, white gold is measured in karats.

Its properties vary depending on the metals and proportions used. As a result, white gold alloys can be used for different purposes; while a nickel alloy is hard, strong and therefore good for rings and pins, white gold-palladium alloys are soft, pliable and good for white gold gemstone settings. The highest quality white gold is usually at least 17 karat, and made up of gold and palladium, and sometimes even trace levels of platinum for weight and durability, although this often requires specialized goldsmiths.

While some higher quality white gold alloys retain their shine and lustre, most will be coated with a very thin layer of rhodium. This will give the naturally more dull white gold a shine comparable to platinum or silver. Often white gold will require cleaning, or re-coating of rhodium at a later date.

Diamonds

diamond is the modern birthstone for April, so we would like to take this opportunity to say a few words about fancy coloured diamonds, which are more to our taste than the colourless type: they're rarer, more valuable, and a great deal more colourful (although the colours do tend to be a little on the pale side).

Fancy coloured diamonds are not a mass-market product such as those which are advertised everywhere and sold by numbers. They have more personality than that. Fancy coloured diamonds are almost as much fun as coloured gemstones! Like coloured gemstones, each one is different. They come in fabulously expensive pale pinks and blues, pale to bright yellows, oranges, greens, and all those brown colours that are now given names like cognac and champagne. So, buy a diamond instead of a coloured gemstone if you must, but at least consider a fancy coloured one which will give your jewellery more character, more individuality and more colour!

GREEN TOURMALINE

The tourmaline is a unique miracle of colour. The gemstone comes in green, red, blue, yellow, but there are also colourless specimens and black ones. Often two or more colours are found in a single tourmaline crystal. Also rare and very highly esteemed are tourmalines which appear to change their colour and cat's eye tourmalines. Having said all that, green is regarded as the classical tourmaline colour. If you ask a gemstone merchant about a tourmaline, green, in most cases, is the first colour he will think of.


Chrome makes green tourmalines look like emeralds

Tourmalines are borosilicates with a very complex structure. The colours are caused, among other things, by tiny amounts of foreign matter and trace elements. Because of the complex structure of this gemstone, it exists in an almost endless number of varieties and colours depending on where it developed. There is something fascinating about this individuality, for practically each deposit has produced its own kind of tourmaline. With a little luck, now and then one may come across a really special highlight in the trade: a chrome tourmaline. That is the name given to the emerald green variety from Tanzania, coloured by vanadium and chrome. Its colour is extraordinarily beautiful, and amazingly similar to that of a fine emerald, which, after all, is among the most expensive gemstones in the world.

In the form of small, mostly dark crystals, tourmalines can be found practically all over the world. The places which supply crystals so large and beautiful that precious gemstones can be cut from them are, however, much, much rarer. The major green tourmaline deposits are in Brazil, Namibia, Nigeria, Mozambique, Pakistan and Afghanistan. But green tourmalines of good colour and transparency are a rare thing in any gemstone mine. And if, in addition, they are also free of inclusions, they are very highly coveted indeed.

Not easy to cut

Green tourmalines can be cut in all kinds of different ways. However, the cutting of a tourmaline does require special care, since the colour intensity of most green tourmalines is variously developed depending on the direction of growth. For this reason, dark stones have to be cut in such a way that the table is parallel to the main axis. The colours it contains are extremely pleasant to the eye and harmonious. The green tourmaline is like life itself, with all its facets of individual vivacity .

JADE

The myth of jade :

Jade – a gemstone of unique symbolic energy, and unique in the myths that surround it. With its beauty and wide-ranging expressiveness, jade has held a special attraction for mankind for thousands of years.

This gem, with its discreet yet rather greasy lustre, which comes in many fine nuances of green, but also in shades of white, grey, black, yellow, and orange and in delicate violet tones, has been known to Man for some 7000 years. In prehistoric times, however, it was esteemed rather more for its toughness, which made it an ideal material for weapons and tools. Yet as early as 3000 B.C. jade was known in China as yu, the 'royal gem'.

What is jade?


'Jade', or yu, as it is called in China, is strictly speaking a generic term for two different gems, nephrite and jadeite. The name is derived from the Spanish piedra de ijada, loin-stone, jade having been recognised by the Amerindians as a remedy for kidney ailments. Because of its beneficial effect on the kidneys, the stone was also known as lapis nephriticus. That, indeed, is where the term 'nephrite' came from.

Jade: from raw material to finished product

Jadeite is rarer than nephrite and is therefore regarded as more precious. Nephrite deposits have been found in China, New Zealand, Russia, Guatemala and the Swiss Alps. Dark green jade, so-called Canada jade, is also found in Western Canada. Jadeite is found in China, Russia and Guatemala, but the best stones come from Burma, now known as Myanmar. There, at the annual 'Gems, Jade and Pearls Emporium', blocks of jade in all sizes are auctioned. When purchasing the raw materials, the dealers need to be fairly lucky, since the nodules, blocks and fragments are sold either whole or after having been cut into slices, and there is only a very small window, the result of some initial grinding. So the buyer cannot see exactly what is hidden on the inside: valuable green jade, or an almost worthless, speckled or streaky material. It is not until the cutting process begins that the real quality is revealed.

What distinguishes good jade?


For collectors as well as jewellery lovers, jade is a fascinating gemstone. In Asia, above all, it is collected as an antique. Besides the quality of the gem and its processing, religion and faith also play an important role. In the West, many people prefer to collect jade in the form of snuff-boxes, cigarette holders, small bowls or rings. Since each collector has his or her own taste and his or her own likings with regard to colour, style and shape, it is no easy matter giving definite advice on the purchase of jade objects.



In general, the value of jade is determined according to its colour and the intensity of that colour, the vivacity and texture, and its clarity and transparency. Likings for particular colours vary very considerably from region to region and culture to culture. In green jade alone, the connoisseurs differentiate between seven main qualities, from the intense, even green of imperial jade, via apple green and spinach green, all the way to the lighter and to more heavily speckled shades of green. These special nuances often overlap and can hardly be recognised by the untrained eye. In the USA and Europe, emerald green, spinach green and apple green are regarded as particularly valuable. In the Far East, on the other hand, pure white or a fine yellow with a delicate pink undertone is highly esteemed. In the world of jewellery, the fine violet nuances of lavender jade are very popular.


Symbolic energy and beauty, the traditional and the modern are combined in jade in a particularly harmonious way. And in gemstone therapy it is said that jade 'stimulates creativity and mental agility on the one hand, while also having a balancing and harmonising effect.' So this beautiful gemstone brings us joy, vivacity and happiness all at the same time – and what, in our times, could we possibly need more?