When it comes to purchasing a diamond ring, there are many settings available. However, a precious gem characterized by its beauty, transparency, and brilliance requires a precious metal accordingly.
There are no written rules to select a precious metal or semi-precious metal for a diamond setting. Through the times, one metal has been the favorite over other popular choices. Gold has been always at the top of favorite metals for engagement rings.
Even though, whether for budgeting or personal preference, silver, and palladium are affordable alternatives to gold, in which the white color enhances the appearance of a diamond. However, if you are going to spend a considerable amount of money purchasing a diamond for your fiance why not select platinum?
In jewelry, there are three precious metals; gold, silver, and platinum, which is the rarest and most expensive among all of them. The enduring nature of diamonds combines perfectly with the harder metal, platinum, which is considered the diamond’s best friend.
Platinum rarely causes allergic reactions, resists tarnish, and its silver-like color, helps diamonds to receive better light reflection, regardless of the chosen cut. In the United States, platinum is marked as PLAT, being 95% pure. In other countries around the world, platinum quality is not below 85 to 95%.
Out of curiosity, platinum is also used in coinage. Issues struck in platinum are the pattern of the American half-dollars of 1814 and modern platinum Eagles in dollars. Because platinum is an extremely rare metal, King Louis XV of France declared that platinum is the only metal that fit for a king.
Platinum was first found in South America by Spanish explorers surveying the region in the 18th century. It occurs naturally in copper and nickel ores, as well as native in some deposits. The name of platinum comes from the Spanish word “platina”, meaning little silver.
However, the Italian humanist Julius Caesar Scaliger described in his writing from 1557 some of the first deposits of platinum found in mines across the region running from Mexico to Panama.
Used in a diamond setting, the purity of platinum, free of yellowish hue or alloy, guarantee that the diamond’s brilliance will not be tinged, contrarily this metal enhances the gem’s sparkling appearance. Platinum also has a natural luster unaffected by time or weather conditions, which density, durability, and resistance becomes a lifetime protection for a lifelong gem.
The crown of Queen Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, the Queen Mother, was manufactured in platinum for her coronation as Princess Consort of King George VI at the Westminster Abbey in 1937. This platinum crown is decorated with precious gems, including the Koh-I-Noor diamond in the middle front cross, and Queen Victoria’s 17-carat diamond, a present given by the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire in 1856.
Placed in the Queen Mother’s coffin during her funeral in 2002, today, this famous platinum crown is on display at the Jewel House in the Tower of London as an undeniable symbol of the beautiful alliance between diamonds and platinum for all settings, but especially for engagement rings.
