POPULARITY OF PLATINUM

Evening Star, Issue 23322, 19 July 1939, Page 13

POPULARITY OF PLATINUM

METAL ONCE JETTISONED P>en a suitor's heart of gold does not carry much weight unless his declaration of undying affection is accompanied by a platinum-, engagement ring; and most of the brides who promise to love and obey for ever will, with very few exceptions, be bound by a band of the world's smoothest, most enduring, and precious metal—appropriately symbolic qualities, states the ' Sydney Morning Herald,' Popularity of platinum has increased greatly over the past few years, and, according to leading jewellers, the demand for a shining yellow ring " like the one worn by mother " is negligible. Only a few, liko Hon. Mrs Pat HoreButhven, choose gold " for sentiment's sake." So far as the jeweller is concerned, however, platinum possesses many valuable qualities. Chief of these is it's strength—less than tissue paper thickness being sufficient setting for precious stones. .Those wondrous necklaces and pendants, for example, in which a spider-web of unobtrusive metal holds in place constellations of diamonds, .making their fire blaze and flash with increased brilliance, would be merely a craftsman's dream without a platinum base of reality. The woman who goes to dinners, balls, and other social functions, her fingers sparkling with diamonds, her breast bright with rubies and sapphires, and her throat encircled with pearls, realises perhaps the big pare platinum plays in her adornment. But it is unlikely she knows the many humbler but more essential services performed for her by the most precious of all metals. Telephone, radio, electric iron, hairwaving apparatus, vacuum cleaner, and even light it-self depend on the presence of small quantities of platinum in certain parts of the equipment. It is fitting that a precious metal which plays such an important part in romance should itself have a romantic history. _ That story, however, commences in comparatively recent times. Neither the enlightened ancients nor the alchemists of the dark ages knew about platinum, ami Europe had to wait for the first definite news of it until 1748, when Don Antonio dp Ulloa, a Spanish naval officer, published an account of his travels through South America in 1735 with a French astronomical mission.

It had, however, been discovered earlier by Spanish gold seekers in the country, but they were impressed only ■ by its great weight, and covered it with a thin layer of gold and sold it as the then more precious metal. To prevent such fraud it was decreed that all platinum should be thrown into the sea. Then, in 1788, the Spanish Government went into the counterfeiting business on its own account, paying 8s a pound for platinum to mix with gold. Russian huntsmen, however, had been using platinum to make bullets, and in 1819 huge deposits were found in the Mai Mountains. Before the war 90 per cent, of the world’s _ supply came from this quarter. Russia actually had a platinum coinage from 1828 to 1845, when it was discontinued owing to fluctuation of price and difiieultics of manufacture. Canada, Russia, Colombia, and South Africa now furnish the hulk of platinum supplies, with a very small quantity from Australia. Fifield. near Parkas, New South Wales, produced, to the cud of 1985, 20,0930 z, valued at £127,027, but its present output is onlv about 50oz a year. From 8s 6d an ounce in 1809 the price of platinum rose steadily to 85s in 1908, and to £2O in 1914, as com-

pared with £4 5s for gold. .During the war it reached £4O, owing to the supply from the Urals being closed tfnd to the large quantity used in the manufacture of munitions. This led to,

i the discovery of substitutes for scientific' and commercial purposes, nnc since 1927 the value of platinum has slumped until it is now worth only a / few shillings more than gold.