Platinum (Pt) is a natural white precious metal. According to the national standard of precious metal jewelry, only platinum can be called platinum. In addition, only jewelry with platinum content above 850‰ can bear the exclusive logo of platinum-platinum (platinum, platinum) or Pt. There are 1000 dots after the mark to indicate the purity (platinum content) of platinum, such as platinum (platinum, platinum) 950, Pt950, etc. Platinum jewelry usually bears the purity marks of Pt850, Pt900, Pt950, Pt990 or Pt999.
Platinum usually refers to platinum in people's spoken language, but bad businessmen maliciously confuse the concept, and many white metals become platinum. The best way to tell is to see if there is a Pt mark on the jewelry.
Metals smelted from platinum group minerals include palladium, rhodium, iridium and platinum. Palladium is a member of the platinum family. Palladium (Pd for short) is another white metal, and its density is about half that of platinum, which is very similar to silver. More than 80% of palladium is used for industrial purposes, and palladium is mainly used as an alloy in jewelry at present. But it is different from platinum: first, the component seal of palladium is "pd", while the component seal of platinum is "Pt"; Second, the price of palladium is lower than that of platinum; Third, palladium is lighter than platinum.
Many consumers can't tell platinum from palladium, which are similar in color, but quite different in quality and properties. The price of palladium in the market is about half that of platinum, so consumers must pay attention when buying platinum jewelry.
Against the background of rising platinum price, palladium ornaments came into being. A few years ago, palladium and platinum, two metals belonging to the same family, were very similar in color and appearance, but their fates were quite different. Platinum is a sought-after object, and the price of its jewelry products has been rising all the way. At that time, palladium didn't even have the title of gold, so it was an out-and-out supporting role. It was mainly used as a synthetic component of other metal jewelry, such as plating a layer of palladium on 18K kK gold or silver jewelry. In recent years, with platinum pushing the threshold of jewelry consumption higher and higher, some jewelry manufacturers are committed to studying palladium technology and launching pure palladium jewelry with a content of over 900‰.
The listing of palladium ornaments has attracted more and more attention of fashion people. These two kinds of gold ornaments are natural white, shiny and pleasing to the eye, and there is no obvious difference when you look closely. There is an endless stream of dealers from all over the world who come to wholesale palladium jewelry. A guest from Ningbo said that consumers in Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions have a growing demand for palladium, and his business is also growing. According to industry insiders, the retail volume of palladium jewelry in Shenzhen is also rising. Palladium jewelry is fashionable and trendy, and it is the new favorite of young people.
The retail price is about half that of platinum.
A prominent advantage of palladium's large-scale entry into the highly competitive jewelry market is its relatively low price. The price of the same platinum diamond ring on the display side is twice as high. The salesperson explained that the price of the diamonds used is the same, and the difference is mainly due to the different prices of palladium and platinum materials.
At present, in the international market, the price of platinum per ounce is more than US$ 1 100, the price of gold is more than US$ 600, and the price of palladium is more than US$ 300, which is about half of the price of gold and less than one third of the price of platinum. However, the retail price of gold jewelry will not be equal to the raw material of gold. According to statistics, the price of palladium jewelry is about 50%-70% of that of platinum jewelry.
According to relevant persons of the International Palladium Association, palladium, platinum, gold and silver are all international precious metal spot and futures trading varieties. Although the current trading price of palladium is lower than that of platinum, it was once higher than that of platinum in history. Palladium is a non-renewable scarce resource. With the continuous exploitation and the improvement of market demand, it is believed that its value-preserving characteristics will be gradually reflected.
Platinum and palladium are very different.
The "appearance" of palladium, gold and platinum is very similar, but the price difference is not small, which makes some small traders have a bad idea. They filled platinum with palladium and fished in troubled waters. At the beginning of the listing of palladium jewelry, this phenomenon also appeared in Shenzhen market, which was once quite prominent, but now the situation is much more standardized.
Jewelry professionals say that from the outside, although palladium and platinum are silvery white, the density of palladium is relatively small, and palladium jewelry of the same size is much lighter than platinum. A person from the gold jewelry industry association said that it is impossible to distinguish palladium, gold and platinum jewelry only by experience and superficial observation. Nowadays, standard merchants will indicate the jewelry material on the gold ornaments. Among them, the metal code of palladium is Pd, and the code of platinum is Pt, with only one letter difference. Consumers need to carefully identify when buying; At the same time, we should choose products from reputable manufacturers and merchants. If you are still not at ease, you can take the gold ornaments to a nearby jewelry testing institution for on-site testing.