Over the past few years, the demand for jewelry made of precious metals in white color continues to grow.
Traditionally, the customer has two choices – platinum or white gold.
Though the demand for platinum jewelry remains strong, the problem is the high cost.
White gold is a popular alternative. Although white gold is much cheaper, it has several drawbacks such as the fact that white gold is never entirely white and always has a slight yellow tint.
The rhodium coating which is placed on the white gold in order to make it look more white wears out over time.
Furthermore, the white gold is not hypoallergenic as platinum. The jewelry industry experimented with several alternative white alloys but failed until now.
Palladium is a precious metal, a member of the same group of metals as rhodium and platinum.
The history of palladium is closely linked to that of platinum, as they were discovered together.
These metals were processed by South American Indians thousands of years ago.
The Europeans discover the unique qualities of platinum after the Spanish Conquista in South America.
In 1751 platinum was recognized as a new element.
Up to 1804 the palladium has not been addressed separately from the platinum.
The use of palladium was limited to the 70s of the last century when its properties have been sought in the production of catalytic converters.
The Palladium is used in the manufacturing of jewelry during World War II, when the platinum has been declared as a strategic metal in 1939 and its use is reserved for the army.
Due to the high demand for the jewelry of white metals white gold and the palladium become popular replacements.
The new palladium alloys 950 are entirely white, hypoallergenic, at a good price and have many of the characteristics of the platinum.
The same as in the gold, silver, and platinum the quality of the alloy of palladium is determined by its purity.