It is unbelievable how the prices of precious metals has shot up considerably. Platinum in Jan 2002 it was at $ 500 an ounce and now almost $ 1,200/ounce. In my opinion this feels like a temporary surge in the prices. During war time platinum is used more to create arms and ammunitions. Or it could very well be that few top rated buyers sat down together to create a temporary increase in demand forcing the prices to shoot up. Sooner or later the old adage of "What goes up must come down" will apply to this.

I, for one, refuse to get into this metal money war. During World War II the platinum was not allowed to be used in jewelry. It gave birth to alternative colored gold, primarily white gold. In today's time, with better scientific tools and advancement in the jewelry industry, it seems to be Palladium.

Palladium is in the Platinum family, which involves Osmium, Rhodium, Platinum, Palladium, Ruthenium and Iridium. Palladium has similar chemical properties to Platinum. It is as hard as Platinum and perfectly fit for making jewelry. Palladium looks just like platinum and is slightly lighter in weight. In it's raw form platinum looks greyish white while palladium looks silverish white. The major difference is price. It is less than half the price of Platinum and is equally good in strength, stability as well as looks.

Our European counterparts have already adapted their jewelry to involve palladium. Leading European designers and manufacturers have been using palladium as an alternative to 18 karat gold for almost 3 years now. One of the biggest advantage of Palladium is that it does not require to be plated periodically. White gold on the other hand has to be rhodium plated almost every year to maintain it's bright white shine. Explanation for that is as follows. Gold's natural color is yellow. It is mixed with alloys to get a pale yellowish-white color. To counter the pale yellow tinge in gold, it is plated with rhodium (in the platinum family), which finally gives it the bright white finish. Now with daily wear and tear and with contact with body as well as external oils and chemicals the plating wears off, exposing the pale yellow color of gold.

One of the biggest disadvantage of this rhodium plating is that the item has to be completely polished and cleaned before the plating adheres effectively. This results in loss of gold weight everytime your jewelry is rhodium plated, weakening the solder joints and the prongs that are holding your diamonds and gemstones. This is completely avoided in the case of Platinum or Palladium.

At the end of it all, I like Platinum but not as much as to pay exhorbitant price. I will be perfectly fine with Palladium. However, you decide where you would like to spend your own money. And you DARE not forget the lovely wife/girlfriend/mistress who likes to see "PLATINUM" on the receipt!