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Jodie Gearing
22nd February 2010 14:59

Palladium

 

We get asked about palladium all the time and it has become a really popular choice with both our commission and ready to wear customers. So I thought I would condense all our information on it into one concise blog for you to read and hopefully be inspired to create something lovely in this fascinating metal!

It is a rare metal from the same family as platinum, discovered in 1803 by William Hyde Wollaston who named it after the asteroid Pallas. Interestingly, it was while he was studying medicine at Cambridge that he developed an interest in metallurgy - which links our studio in Cambridge very nicely to the history of this metal!

With the educational atmosphere of Cambridge, we often get asked about the science behind the metals and stones we use. So for those interested, palladium has the atomic number of 46 and lies in the same vertical group of the periodic table as nickel and platinum. It is a noble metal that has excellent corrosion resistance, which explains its use in the motoring industry. Most of the palladium used each year can be found in the motor and medical industries; the amount used in jewellery is tiny in comparison!

It has the same bright, cold white of platinum - when you see the two metals side by side they are impossible to tell apart. It is only when you pick them up that you can tell the difference - platinum is a weighty metal that some customers can find too heavy. Palladium is less dense and therefore feels lighter on the hand (roughly 40% lighter) - ideal for chunky rings and in particular for men who are not used to wearing jewellery.

Platinum wedding band
Palladium wedding band

Palladium is currently priced somewhere between 9 and 18ct white gold, making it a good option for your bank account while achieving the colour and look of platinum at a lower cost! White gold on the high street is usually rhodium plated to give the appearance of platinum but as this is not a well known fact, people think their white gold rings get 'tarnished' or that white gold is a coating on top of yellow gold and is therefore not the same colour all the way through. Working here, it is so lovely to be able to show customers the natural colours of white gold, which they often find suit their skin tone more than the colder colours of the platinum group metals. We can give you the option to plate white gold, but it must always be considered that any finish wears and this thin plating will have to be re-applied to maintain the bright white colour. Palladium removes the need for this fuss!

Rhodium plating is not very good for the environment as it involves using horrible chemicals that are hard to dispose of. If you are interested in the environmental impact of your jewellery, palladium is a really interesting choice. Not only does it not require plating, but it is also generally extracted as a by-product of platinum mining meaning it is not mined specifically for itself but comes up as a result of other mining. Therefore, not only can your wallet breathe a sigh of relief, but your conscience can too!

We predict that palladium will only increase in popularity, especially as it now has its full legal hallmark which was instated on 1st January 2010

Palladium Hallmark

The image above shows the palladium hallmark with the first palladium item, by Tom John, to be given the mark. The first mark is the maker's symbol which in our case is 'HK' in a rectangular box.

Next, there is a profile image of the head of Pallas Athena, the Greek goddess of war, wisdom and craft. This is an instant distinguishing feature that separates the platinum and palladium mark.

The next box tells you the fineness of the metal - in the case of the palladium we work with, this is 950 parts out of 1000 compared to 750 for 18ct gold and 375 for 9ct gold. Platinum has the same fineness so the two are distinguished by differently shaped boxes - for platinum this is a peaked rectangle and for palladium it is a trapezium as shown in the image.

Next is a symbol which tells you which assay office it was hallmarked at. For London, the assay office we use, it is a face of a leopard as depicted in the dish by Tom John. The other assay offices are in Birmingham which has the symbol of an anchor; Sheffield which is a rose and Edinburgh which is symbolised by a castle.

The hallmarking system gives the added protection and confidence when commissioning any piece of palladium jewellery, which Antoinette discusses in greater detail in this blog.

I hope this gives you lots of information on palladium and I look forward to seeing many more commissions and also more palladium ready to wear rings like these in the near future.

Palladium and green tourmaline engagement ring
Palladium and diamond engagement ring
Palladium twist style engagement ring

Jodie x

Jodie Gearing
 

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  • Harriet Kelsall Jewellery Design, North Barn, Fairclough Hall Farm, Halls Green, Weston, Hertfordshire, SG4 7DP, England
    Phone: +44 (0)1462 790565 Fax: +44 (0)1462 790140 enquiries@hkjewellery.co.uk
  • Harriet Kelsall Jewellery Design, 6/7 Green Street, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, CB2 3JU, England.
    Phone: +44 (0)1223 461333 Fax: +44 (0)1223 365269 cambridge@hkjewellery.co.uk

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