| Precious Metals that we often see in the market are Gold, Silver and Platinum. Lately, due to the high prices of these commodities, Palladium is started to be used as substitute for white karat gold and platinum. In Indonesia, we seldom see platinum jewelries. They are often imported because of the high melting point of the metal (the common jewellers do not have the special oxy-hydrogen torch). The most common jewelries in Indonesia are in gold, then followed by silver. |
| These precious metals are desirable in jewelry because their following properties:
Allure
Workability
Durability
Rarity |
| Allure is the beauty appeal of the precious metal which may be physical and psychological and is usually described by the following attributes:
Color
Luster
Heft |
Workability is the easiness to work with and is usually categorized by:
Malleability
Ductility
| Durability is the strength and resistance to wear, heat and chemicals |
| Rarity is the scarcity and dispersion existence of the metals. |
| Unfortunately, in their pure state, gold and silver are too soft for jewelry. They are often combined/alloyed with other metals. Alloying is also done to change the color appearance and for cost reasons. |
| Therefore, the knowledge on the Purity Content of a jewelry is a concern. Jewelers would need to know a method of content assaying for their product quality control. |
| In today’s market, jewelries would usually have quality marks on them for consumer confidence purposes. |
| In Indonesia, there is a PLG White Gold developed by PT. Hartono Wira Tanik (HWT) |
| For more information, please go to : |
| World Gold Council |
| Platinum Guild International USA |
| Palladium |
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