Part 1 of a series on metals.

antique sterling silver salver with silver, gold and platinum jewelry. 

A very short history of the main metals, including mysteries and conspiracies. 

Precious metals have been used for thousands of years to make beautiful jewelry and other precious objects. These metals can be hammered, flattened, melted and shaped into almost any form that the human artist imagines. They may have great strength and great beauty and their scarcity and value have been recognized since 'the beginning'. 

Foremost of all has always been gold. Long, long ago, the ancient civilizations of Egypt and Mesopotamia followed by the Romans and other Europeans sourced gold largely from Africa, but some in Europe itself. After 1492, The New World became Europe's primary source of gold, reorientating trade away from Africa for a few centuries. Of course, South American indigenous people had been using gold for at least as long as the Ancient Egyptians, but they did not place the same value on it as did the Europeans. The California Gold Rush was another spoke in the wheel of gold resourcing.  Subsequently, gold has been found in various countries and continents (Canada, Australia, Russia, China). 
Perhaps gold's outstanding quality is that as a 'noble' metal, it remains unchanged and unaffected by weather, air or atmosphere. It does not oxidize or go black with the passing of centuries. 

#5699 gold locket.    

The word "silver" usually follows directly alongside that of "gold" and while resources may vary somewhat with the above, it has been sourced in Europe and South America for just as long as gold. It is said that at one point, 40000 slaves worked the silver mines of Spain. 
Silver does tarnish and will need to be cleaned every now and then. It could leave black marks on exposed skin and clothes. However, it is the appearance of silver that is perhaps its big selling point. Most antique European jewelry reflects the belief that silver offsets diamonds to best effect. 
Interestingly, while today, there are supplies of silver coming from countries like Mexico and China, supply is not keeping up with demand. This begs the question why and by whom is the value of silver being artificially suppressed? There are theories that some might call conspiracies, claiming that the relatively low value of  silver is a plot by big business concerns. You tell me.

                                                                                            #7083 silver mask necklace 

Platinum was known by the Ancient south Americans.  They called it platina (little silver) and largely dismissed it as an impurity in gold, which is why it went largely unused. It was not put to much use in Europe either until late in the 19th century. This is because it has a very high melting point temperature, making it difficult to work with. Only after technology solved that problem, did platinum become immensely popular in jewelry manufacture. Large-scale production of platinum only began after 1900, about the time when platinum jewelry came so much into vogue.  
Platinum's big advantage is that it looks like silver, but it has great, great strength. Platinum allowed the jeweler's imagination to soar. From the early 20th century, platinum often replaced silver as a mount and to set diamonds.
Up until very recently, the value of platinum equaled or surpassed that of gold. And then ... it fell way below the value of gold. Why? Another mystery for us to solve. What do you think?

A number of other metals have also been used, but the above 3 have been, and still are, the most important of them all for jewelry, especially antique jewelry. We will unravel more about each of them and more in the upcoming blog posts. 

           #7297 Tiffany gold and platinum brooch.

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