Platinum is a lustrous silver-white metal, ideal for use in fine jewellery because of it’s resistance to wear and tarnish.
It is a rare metal and it’s extraction much more difficult than gold. In the region of ten tonnes are mined to produce one ounce of fine platinum. The annual supply is only about 180 tonnes of which about 74 tonnes is for jewellery. It sounds a lot but the 2014 figures for gold were 2,990 tonnes mined with about 1500 tonnes for jewellery.
Platinum Jewellery From Orbis
We are able to supply ring mounts, earring and pendant mounts, wedding rings and chain in platinum and if something is not available from stock, we can quote to make it for you.
In white or colourless diamonds, colour is universally graded using an alphabetical scale from D to z with D being the highest grade.
Diamonds and other gemstones are weighed in metric carats. One carat is 0.2 grams and a carat is split further into 100 points (a diamond weighing 50 points is a half carat diamond).
The quality of the cut of a diamond is important, because it dictates a diamond’s fire, sparkle and brilliance. A standard round brilliant cut will have 57 facets and how these facets relate to each other will determine how the light will pass through the diamond. The scale for the quality of the cut goes through Excellent, being the highest grade, Very good, Good, Fair or Poor.
Diamonds are formed under extreme heat and pressure deep inside the earth and often display internal inclusions or external blemishes.