Comments on: Palladium, why I’m not excited

By: Gracie

Gracie — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 16:09:53 +0000

Thanks - this is great info to have (and learn!). I have been hearing about palladium for sometime now, but frankly, never looked into it! While I have heard of some people loving their palladium pieces, I probably would stay away from it myself. I have several pieces in platinum that are about a hundred years old, and I just adore the way it has patinaed. Given the info you stated above (about palladium hardening over time), it would mean that had jewelers then used palladium in the lacy, filigree-heavy designs of the Edwardian era, those pieces might have not survived - assuming that the delicate pieces might have become brittle and more prone to breakage over time.

By: Gemcat

Gemcat — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 14:34:44 +0000

Thanks so much for the info. Everything has a history and I’m glad to learn about palladium. I don’t have any jewelry in palladium (yet)but there are only a select few jewelers I’d let work on any of my jewelry to start with.
My preference for white metal would be white gold alloyed with nickel like many of the antique rings I’ve seen. They were a beautiful white without plating and stayed that way. I know many folks are sensitive to nickel, so the industry moved away from it.
Platinum has always been too expensive for my budget, and frankly the alloy with cobalt looks gray and cold to me. I’ve never seen the allure of it due to looks and expense.
Thanks again for the research and information.
Gemcat

By: POOKARINA

POOKARINA — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 23:59:01 +0000

MANY THANKS FOR THS OBJECTIVE LOOK AT PALLADIUM.

I MYSELF HAVE NEVER HAD ISSUES WITH RE-PLATING RINGS WITH RHODIUM AND I LIKE PLATINUM AS WELL AS WHITE GOLD. THE SLIGHT ÝELLOW´NESS OF WG DOESN´T OFFEND ME AND I HAVE NEVER HAD A PROBLEM WITH A PLATINUM RING BEING UNABLE TO WITHSTAND THE HARD (HAH!) WEAR I SUBJECT MY RINGS TO.
I HAVE ONLY ONCE HAD A PAIR OF EARRINGS WHICH WERE ORIGINALLY YELLOW GOLD AND I HAD PLATED WITH RHODIUM TO MAKE THEM WHITER. THEY NEVER LOOKED VERY WHTE TO M BUT I THINK THE LOCAL JEWELER DIDN´T SUFFICIENTLY RHODIUM THEM ANYWAY CAUSE THEY DID NOT YELLOW OVER TIME, THEY JUST EVER LOST THE YELLOW FAINT TRACES.
I HAVE NEVER HAD THE ¨NEED¨ TO CONTINUALLY REPLATE A WHITE GOLD PIECE FOR APPEARANCE.
DOES THIS VARY WITH THE INDIVIDUAL CHEMISTRY OF THE WEARER?

i HAVE THEREFORE NEVER REALLY WANTED TO MAKE THE TRENDY SWITCH TO PALLADIUM AND NOW I KNOW I WILL NEVER COMMISSION A PALLADIUM PIECE TO ¨SAVE´ MONEY. BETTER TO REPLATE EVERY NOW AND THEN IF NECESSARY, AS FAR AS I AM CONCERNED.

I DO NOT GENERALLY HAVE WORK DONE ON MY ITEMS BY A LOCAL JEWELER (I DID ONCE HAVE AN ENERGENCY SIZING DONE LOCALLYON A GOLD RING FOR MY DD AS A GIFT) BUT SINCE I GENERALLY PREFER TO SEND OUT MY THINGS TO YOU OR WINK THS WILL NOT MATTER TO ME, EXCEPT FOR THE FACT THAT I PREFER TO BE AN INFORMED CONSUMER….
AND I JUST NEVER HAD GOOD VIBES ABOUT THE PALLADIUM IDEA IN GENERAL.

i STILL WOULD RATHER WEAR MY JEWELS IN A REAL ¨PRECIOUS¨ METAL THAN A SUBSTITUTE,WHICH NOW I KNOW MAY OR MAY NOT RETAIN ITS VALUE AS A PRECIOUS METAL ANYWAY.

i HAVE AN ANTIQUE PIECE WHCH WAS SPECIOUSLY REPAIRED LONG AGO AND NOW I THINK I UNDERSTAND WHY IT HAS A PROBLEM.

ONCE I KNEW THERE WAS A PROBLEM I DID NOT EVER ATTEMPT TO SELL IT BECAUSE I VALUE MY REPUTATION AS A SELLER AND WOULD NOT WANT TO EVEN UNKNOWINGLY PASS ALONG AN UN-REPAIRABLE ITEM. THE ITEM WAS MADE BEFORE THE FIRST WORLD WAR AND THINK THE REPAIR WAS DONE IN THE 40S, SO IT SEEMS THAT WOULD EXPLAIN A LOT TO ME.

i AM TYPING ON A SOUTH AMERICAN KEYBOARD WHICH PRESENTS MANY FEWER PROBLEMS WITH CAPS THAN WITH LOWER CASE LETTERS, SO I WANT TO MAKE IT CLEAR THAT I AM NOT YELLING HERE, JUST TRYING TO TYPE A CLEAR AND LEGIBLE REPLY.

BUT, LOUD AND CLEAR, I DO WANT TO THANK YOU FOR YOUR EXPLANATION AND FOR SAVING ME THE TROUBLE OF EVER DEALING WITH PALLADIUM IN THE FUTURE, REGARDLESS OF THE FINANÇIAL UPS AND DOWNS OF THE ECONOMY AND THE PRECIOUS METALS MARKET.

BYE BYE, PALLADIUM… IF I EVER NEED REPLATING, IT IS NOT THAT OFTEN NOR IS IT PROHIBITIVELY EXPENSIVE, AND THE VAGARIES OF FUTURE PALLADIUM REPAIR MAKE IT NOT SEEM WORTH THE CURRENT ¨SAVINGS¨TO ME.

THANKS AGAIN FOR SAVING ME A WHOLE LOTTA TROUBLE.
I WISH MORE PEOPLE WERE AS HONEST AND FORTHCOMING AS YOU HAVE BEEN, ESPECIALLY ON THIS TOPIC, WHERE WE ARE BEING LED DOWN THE PALLADIUM PAVED ROAD BY CERTAIN LARGE MANUFACTURERS.
AND THEY KNOW WHO THEY ARE….

MY 2 PESOS…

THANKS,
POOKARINA