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Education Center -> About
Palladium |
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About Palladium |
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Palladium is a member of the platinum group of metals, which includes platinum,
palladium, iridium, osmium, rhodium and ruthenium. Of all the members of this family
of metals, only palladium and platinum are suitable for jewelry production.
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Palladium has grown in popularity over the past 10 years for a number of reasons.
It has the wonderful purity, luster and white appearance that has made platinum
so desirable. Just like platinum, it is hypoallergenic, making it a preferred choice
over white gold. But compared to both platinum and gold, palladium is currently
priced more attractively, making it a great choice of value and quality.
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Palladium made its first significant appearance in jewelry in the mid 20th century,
when platinum was declared a strategic metal for the war effort during WWII. However,
tools available through most of the 20th century did not allow for efficient casting
of palladium, making it very wasteful to work with. In the 1990’s, casting technologies
advanced to make it more efficient, but it also coincided with a significant spike
in palladium prices, in which palladium became even more expensive than platinum.
Only during the past 7 years has the price of palladium dropped enough to make it
an attractive choice compared to platinum.
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Palladium weights about the same as 14 carat gold, and is about half the weight by
volume as platinum. In some cases, this makes palladium even more desirable than
platinum. Both platinum and palladium maintain their white colour permanently, unlike
white gold which tends to yellow over time. One drawback to palladium when compared
to platinum is that it does not maintain a shiny luster as long as platinum and
may dull slightly or require polishing.
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With palladium offering the pampering qualities of platinum without platinum’s significant
price tag, we can expect to see its popularity skyrocket in the coming years.
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