Palladium is a member of the platinum family and was first used for jewelery during the late 1930s when platinum was earmarked for military use during the war.

Jewelry palladium tends to be a bit more rare than ordinary jewelery, Palladium is a member of the platinum family but is a softer metal and easier to work for jewelers so is becoming more popular for the use of rings, bracelets and sometimes pendants and earrings.

Palladium is more precious than silver and whiter than platinum. It is also lighter than platinum being only about half the weight it is ideal for larger jewelery and for settings such as diamond rings.

It is also available as bars and coins and becoming very popular for collectors and enthusiasts.

Keeping palladium clean is quite easy. It only requires a wash in warm soapy water and well rinsed and dried to remain in pristine condition.

Palladium can oxidize and show up black if subjected to great heat but will resume its normal color when cooled again. However repeated heating and cooling can cause it to become brittle and crack so reasonable care should be taken with palladium jewelery.

Palladium alloys for jewelery usually contain about 95% palladium and 5 percent of a metal called ruthenium and some trace elements of other metals. This form of palladium is white, malleable, hypoallergenic and easy to work and finish or polish.

Palladium jewelery is relatively inexpensive compared to platinum and can make a fine and very nice piece of jewelery.

This entry was posted on Sunday, November 12th, 2006 at 2:28 pm and is filed under All About Palladium.