You may have seen in the news that the price of palladium has been consistently going up in the last few years, and even more so in recent weeks. We thought this would be a good time to tell you a little more about the metal, why this rise in cost is important and what it means for your jewellery.
1. Palladium is a lovely bright white metal which shares many characteristics, including colour, with platinum. If you wanted the same crisp white colour in white gold, it would have to be rhodium plated multiple times in its lifetime, but of course since palladium is this colour all the way through, the bright hue won’t change.
2. It is valued for its strength, resistance to scratching, and its light weight. A palladium wedding ring will weigh 40% mindre end en identisk ring i platin, hvilket betyder, at den er fantastisk til store mænds vielsesringe og øreringe, som ville være tungere og potentielt mere ubehagelige for nogle mennesker, hvis de er lavet i platin.
3. Navnet for palladium kommer fra den græske gudinde 'Pallas Athena’ og det traditionelle finhedssymbol, der kan være en del af kendetegnet, viser, at hun har sit ror på. Mange mennesker elsker ideen om at have gudinden for visdom og krig repræsenteret i deres smykker, give styrke og råd, når det er mest nødvendigt.
4. Kendetegnet for palladium blev introduceret tilbage i 2010, selvom mange guldsmede var bange for at arbejde med metallet, fordi de ikke havde brugt det tidligere. Som et resultat, selv i dag ses det ikke så ofte på hovedgaden som hvidguld eller platin. We have been working with palladium for almost 14 years and have developed lots of expertise with the unusual metal. Our goldsmith Will’s ‘masterpiece’ won a gold medal at the GCDA awards, partly because the exceptional finish achieved on the palladium was better than the judges had ever seen!
5. For those with sensitive skin, palladium is hypoallergenic and shouldn’t cause irritation. We have heard reports that some people who are allergic to nickel may also be sensitive to palladium, however we haven’t experienced any cases of this with our customers. We’ve found that any reaction has come from liquid soap trapped behind the ring and not the ring itself.