About Metals
Platinum:
This is an excellent choice for metal because of its durability. An interesting fact about platinum is that unlike other precious metals such as silver and gold, which are easily scratched, platinum is virtually impossible to wear down. This makes it an excellent choice as every time that you polish your jewelry you will not have to worry about the wear down that can occur with other metals.
Typically there are other small components, which are added to platinum to increase its hardness including iridium and ruthenium and help in retaining the original pure platinum quality and appearance. The beauty of this metal makes it a perfect setting for any diamond as it really enhances the brilliance of the stone. Additionally, platinum is a hypoallergenic which is ideal for anyone with sensitive skin or suffering from an allergy with other metals.
Gold:
Gold is one of the most rare elements in the precious metals family, and in the world. The fine metal is able to resist tarnish and rust, and is also unaffected by oxidization, corrosion, and acids. The lifespan of gold can far outweigh even that of a diamond.
Karats themselves are what measure the percentage of the gold to the alloy contained in the gold jewelry. For example if something is marked 18kt gold than this means that it contains 75% pure gold in its makeup.
There are different colors to gold. All are obtained in alloying other metals with gold itself;
Silver:
Pure silver is usually combined with other metals to allow more durability as 100% of the metal itself is more soft and easily damaged. Copper is what is added to the silver to add more durability, however, when you select sterling silver the composition is about 92.5% silver to 7.5% copper.
The metal has an ideal combination of beauty to durability. It is also ideal to setting stones, and may be a more affordable alternative to platinum with the same stunning appearance.
Palladium:
Palladium is such a beautiful and solid metal as it has a much lighter density than Platinum allowing bigger pieces to be designed and crafted that are not heavily weighed down in this precious metal. This is a rare and lustrous metal that is silvery-white in color and appearance.
Like Platinum, Palladium is pure as it gets its qualities from nature. To obtain this color in other metals the mixing with nickel to appear whiter in color must occur, and this can lead to allergic reactions. Whereas with palladium, the color is naturally this way and the metal itself is hypoallergenic. Essentially it is the perfect beautiful combination of serving as a durable metal while possessing such a light density to craft the larger and bolder pieces that you may desire.