PLATINUM

Platinum is considered the noblest of metals, since it is the hardest metal and the most resistant to corrosion and it never oxidizes, much less tarnishes. It is the rarest of the precious metals, too, with 10 tons, 20,000 pounds, of ore rock required to yield 1 ounce pure platinum.

Platinum is so hard, in fact, that it has been worked only in relatively recent times. Earlier gold- and silversmiths did not have the Is necessary to create the masterpieces in platinum that they could make in gold and silver. As a result, it was undervalued and even recognized for the precious metal it is, although a few pre-Spanish Indian artifacts have been found in Colombia.

The Spanish conquistadores thought so little of the white grains metal they found with gold deposits in Colombia that they threw metal, which they called platina from the silver (plata) color, into sea as they loaded their treasure galleons. It didn't take long, however, for platinum to arouse the interest of gold- and silversmiths d jewelry buyers in Europe and become appreciated for its beauty d quality. The history of platinum, then, extends back only about three hundred years and not the thousands of years of gold and silver.